I used a baby blanket in Mango's crate from the first day I brought her home. I also rolled up and old, small towel, leaving just enough room for her to stand up, turn around, sleep in. She never messed in there once, not even the first night. As she grew bigger, I took away the rolled up towel. Now of course, at 9 months, she uses the whole crate.
This picture shows the crate with the top half taken off.
You can see the baby receiving blanket, which by the way is on top of a small pad, made especially for the crate (PetsMart), with the rolled up towel taking up the extra space. The crate, as you can see is in a small wired exercise pen, also PetsMart. I did this to keep her confined and safe, as she was a really tiny puppy. I did put a pee pad on one side of the pen, which she started using the first day to go potty, the sweet, girl that she was. I have to say, that using this method, she toilet trained amazingly quickly. After 6 weeks at home, she was totally potty trained.
