House training

my husky knows to go outside for a poo or pee, she wont let me know though so if i dont offer for her to go out she will pee. When i leave her in the living room for the night she will poo or pee on the carpet, she also does this if left in the living room while we go to do a food shop on a weekend. If i go out and leave her for a couple of hours on a week day she wont have an accident, and if i have her sleep in my room she wont have an accident, or when in her crate. I wanted to let her have the living room for her space but i dont like the fact she keeps messing on the carpet at bed time or when i do a food shop with the family on a weekend. Im not sure if this is normal behaviour, she is 6 years old, i bought her from a breeder and she was very nervous when i got her, the breeder told me she has been like it for the year she had her and would proberbly never over come nervousness. I was told she was afraid of men, and she was very frightened of my husband who hadnt done anything for her to be scared. She would run and hide when my husband picked up his keys off the side, and wouldnt go anywhere near him, in the end i asked my husband to feed her raw chicken, as she loves it and had been fed that before i got her, and i asked him to take her out on her lead and every now and then stop get her to sit and pet her, he did this for a few weeks and now she isnt flinching, as nervous, and comes to me or my husband. She doesnt always listen to my husband when he asks her to do something but that is because he is having a conversation with her rather than using simple commands lol, she is great on the lead, she listens to me when i ask anything of her, she still gets a bit nervous of strangers and jumps out of the front door whenever we are going in our out, which makes me think she has been shut in a door, i have never known a siberian husky to be as nervous as she is, she even crawls on the floor at times when i pat my leg for her to come to me, calling her name. Im sure this isnt normal. Sorry to go on a bit but was wondering if anyone could give any advice about the carpet situation with regards to letting her have the living room, or if i should just keep her in her crate at night or when i go shopping? Also just to add, im in doors pretty much all the time, i am a stay at home mum, clean, and walk sasha sometimes i will go out for a coffee or to a mums and babies group, and food shopping is done on a weekend. My husband is in and out every day going to work, sometimes he goes away on courses or exercises for a period of time, which can be very random (incase this is the cause of her behaviour)

I would never assume a new dog knows anything. People tell lies in order to get rid of dogs.
Start house training from scratch, the same way you would a puppy. Take the dog out every hour, praise when she `goes`. Clean up any accidents using antibacterial cleaners and don`t comment at all.
And train her to do actions to your cues. Dogs don`t speak English so if her previous owners has trained her to Sit with the word `geddown" (it happens ) you might as well be speaking Swahili as far as she`s concerned.
If you use positive training methods she will grow in confidence.
Do you have any experience of positive training or do you need book recommendations?

You could teach her "Touch" and place a bell on the bottom of the door - then if you teach her to touch the bell before you take her out she will learn - bell means toilet.

This is usually for small dogs - I know my aunt taught a couple of her Shih Tzu's to do this. The only downside is that you get woken up by a bell in the early hours lol, you have to be vigilant in this training, as soon as she's learnt to touch the bell, and she touches it on her own - you have to be straight there or a little delay otherwise it will only work for so long.

If you go out I would suggest taking the bell off the door then she cant ring it, unless you crate her.

You could try little exercises with your husband to get her to overcome her nervousness with him, get him to walk her around the block, or just give her tidbits whenever she comes near him. If you do this then she will soon learn he is not a threat. She is reliant on you because you are with her all the time and if your husband has a hectic schedule like it sounds he does, then he's not nessecarily pitching in as much, little thing she can do such as putting her food down for her, or taking her out.

She sounds like she's had a bad start - not socialised properly etc.

Good luck, hope I've helped

Thank you for your reply, your advise sounds very helpful i will give it a shot

forgot to add, book recommendations would be very much appreciated, as i have trained a puppy but not sure how she would take to retraining, might be a bit more complicated, thank you very much

The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson is a good one to start with.
then maybe Complete Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training by Pamela Dennison?
Your girl sounds like she`s lucky to have found you.

thanks again i will order those books and let you know how we get on