Our husky/shep Tsubaki was pretty good about picking up housetraining. We had the accidents, but after a while, we were set. She'd sit at the door and bark, and out we'd go.

Then about 4 months ago, my husband had to go to the field for a few weeks. This was the first time she had ever been separated from him, so I wasn't overly shocked when the first accident occurred. I cleaned it up, sprayed the area down so the scent would be eliminated and kept an eye on her a few days, and it seemed like we were back to normal.

Then it got worse. Suddenly she's having accidents left and right. Sitting at the door and barking to go outside has turned into glancing at the door when I had my back turned, then, from the way it looks, deciding "ah, well, I'm being ignored, guess I'd better scuttle upstairs and take care of my business there."

4 months later and we're still having this problem. We've tried multiple tricks suggested to us, such as if she has an accident somewhere, move her bowl there. Make it an area she wouldn't want to go potty in. Restrict her freedom so that she can't just roam the house unsupervised and do whatever she wants wherever she wants.

The other problem in the equation is admittedly myself. I'm starting to have a harder time handling all the accidents when my husband is gone, especially because of a terminal illness in the immediate family that I'm trying to keep a handle on. This means when I reprimand Tsubaki, I fear I'm coming off harsher than I need to. The way she slinks away from me makes me feel like I threw her into a wall or something.

I need to find a way to get control back in the situation so that my dog and I aren't at wits end with each other during the upcoming deployment.

Remember she is going through the teenage stage and is going to challenge you to see if the rules are still the same. Is she kennel trained? You may have to start over again from the beginning, pretend that she was never trained and try that. Also, maybe try tethering her to you? That way she get slink away to go potty somewhere she's not supposed to?