She is a 7.5-8 year old collie husky mix and the most wonderful dog I have ever known. We got her when she was 5 and never had problems with her until this last year she would potty in the house and occasionally pooh we switched foods. Problem solved. But within the last 2-3 months she's messing and pottying in the house. She is never alone as her best friend, our cat, and her have free roam of the house all day. Her potty schedule has not been changed even in the slightest. We took her to the vet, he gave us antibiotics for a possible urinary infection but its taken care of now and her problems have not gone away. The vet did a full physical and found absolutely nothing else wrong with her. My husband is fed up and has given me limited time to resolve the issue before I have to get rid of her. Any and all advice is appreciated!

When and how often do you feed her. When is she turned out or exercised? Crating and retraining are likely in your immediate future. Dogs "think" in terms of either always or never. Once they start pooing in the house the always switch has beeen thrown.

Do you know for a fact that the dog was 5 when you adopted her? Was she a pound puppy? If so.. she could be older than 7/8 years old. In which case, I would suggest to stop the free roam of the house.

Older dogs get senile and forgetful just like older people. Instead of forgetting to lock the door and to throw away bad food, they forget that they were house broken and you basically have to start treating them like a puppy.

I would suggest a crate. Crates are not bad or evil. They keep good dogs good. It also keeps the mess in one area instead of everywhere in your home. You can get a fairly good sized crate as well. Some dogs accept the wire crates better than the closed, plastic crates, however; the wire crates do not contain mess.

If that is not an option for you, than maybe a "safe room" would work better for you? This would be a room that is rarely used (if possible) and is easy to clean up in, such as a bathroom or a laundery/mud room.

The concept with both ideas is to put the dog there when you cannot watch her. If you are busy doing house work or if you are gone, put her in there. Naturally, dogs won't mess where they sleep or "live". If you can establish that the crate or the room is hers, her pottying in the house may become less and less.

I have two 14 year old girls. They are 100% house trained/crate trained... every couple of months, they both go through a little stint of peeing in the house. What I do is make sure they are either outside if I'm not watching them or in their crate. Every once in awhile they forget or I forget and a mistake is made. Just don't make a big deal about it. You're dog literally cannot help it.

Cleaners do make a huge difference. Bleach, ammonia based products and so on are not good at cleaning up the smell of urine or feces. I've had luck with Nature's Miracle, but there are tons of enzyme-based cleaners that help kill the smell of urine/feces. The key to them is to SOAK the area, let dry and then clean up with water if it is carpet. If its hardwood floors or tile, mop with a wetter than usual mop. Swiffers and things like that don't work for dog smells..

If you want to explore medications, talk to your vet about some behavior medications. They're not for every dog, but maybe one will work for you.

Your husband wanting to get rid of her for this is a death wish. Older dogs with house training problems get euthanized immediately at a majority of shelters (yes, even "no-kill" shelters). If you are both sick of her behaviors, please put her down yourselves instead of dumping her in a shelter. She knows you.. she trusts you... it will be a peaceful ending instead of being scared and handled by strangers.