The female - her name is "Jingle" (her brother's name is "Jangle") at first hated her crate. We were told that the idea is for them to think of the crate as their own "room" - their bed, their "house" - so they should never be used as punishment. When it was bedtime, Jangle would go right in - but Jingle would run away. She didn't want to be penned in there. Worse, she would still pee in there. That's when we decided that no matter what, they HAD to pee before bedtime, and had to be taken outside to pee first thing in the morning. Until we got the doggie door, I also took them out AGAIN a half hour after morning feeding time (which is ~4am).
We try to make sure that their crate always has toys in it, and is clean. It takes a while to figure out which toys they like best, but they each have favorites. Every night, when Bluejay and I decide it's time for bed, I take them out for pee - reward them IF THEY PEE with a doggie treat - and say "Bedtime! Bedtime! Bedtime!" and they ZOOM down the hall wagging their tails, because they've learned it doesn't just mean, you'll get a treat if you go in your crate - you'll get a LOT of treats (usually, at least TWO). I toss them in or drop them from the top, and close their crates once they're inside. They have really thick soft pillows, so it's really comfy. The crate doors are wide open during the day, and very often when I come home, they are lying down in them, side by side. (When they were smaller, they would both huddle together in ONE crate, but they're too big for that now). We turn off the lights at night, but we leave the hall light on for them, because they're still afraid of the dark.
Jingle would sometimes stick her butt near the cage side and whiz out of her crate - and poop too. But sometimes she wet herself. She clearly hated it, but I heard that dogs can get USED TO IT, if it happens often enough. I mopped their room every day back then - just once a week now - to make sure their room doesn't smell like pee.
We get them new toys around once a week, because a toy is only about 6 or 7 bucks, and they destroy them at about one or two a week, even WITH rawhides to chew on. Bluejay has given up a pair of shoes for them to chew on permanently, and it seems to keep them happy. I've peppered parts of the furniture they used to chew on, and they don't like it anymore. Bluejay wants for them to pick out their toys at Petco, so we'll know what they like.
She could have been outside for hours then run inside and take care of business right in front of the TV. Then the only place she would take care of business outside was under a over hang on the shed. She finally figured out it was ok to take care of business w/o a roof over her head. 
I have a monster, my lab will be 5 months old on the 11th. She is already 50 pounds, and she's the runt of the litter