Pound pup

Question
Hello Erica,
We have recently adopted a dog from animal control...he is estimated to be about 10-12 months old, found on the street, and is bull mix.  Overall, he's pretty good, but we struggle with a few things.  He pees in his crate when we leave him during the day...but he is fine overnight and is mainly housebroken aside from a few accidents here and there.  We take him out before we leave, and he continues to pee even if we are only gone for 2 hours.  Is this harder as he probably learned to do it at the shelter?  Second problem is listening skills.  He is good until there is anything to distract him...cats, dogs, people, anything at all.  He goes through phases where he will not listen to us at all even at home...won't come when called.  He  is very stubborn when he wants to be.  Acts very mule-like.  We are working on this with drills so to speak, having him come and sit...but he does it if he wants to.  Any suggestions?

Answer
Explore a positive reinforcement training program such as clicker training.  This raises the dog's desire to work for you and pay attention due to the nature of the techniques.  I have also added a link for focus techniques:
http://www.jumpinjacs.com/home/gaining_attention.htm

As far as peeing in the crate, this could be a separation anxiety issue.  Do not make a big fuss when leaving-just calmly crate her and walk away.  There are also some helpful techniques in my other answers regarding this issue.