My newish rescued dog has been with us for a couple of months.  She is a very good dog on the whole,  sweet tempered and very quiet.  Since coming here she has blossomed,  put on some weight and gets on with my two other dogs.

At  first I had assumed she was reasonably well house trained as she obligingly wee'd and pooed outside - of course it was summer and we were outside a lot and the door was open.  However more recently we have had a lot of accidents indoors, mostly wee and always on the carpet not on a hard surface. My husband is getting increasingly cross as the carpet was expensive!

I do keep taking her outside as often as I can and she usually obliges but she just is not completely housetrained.  I don't know how old she is - probably middle aged - and of course maybe this is why she ended up in rescue!!  I think all this wet weather has not helped - she is a sheltie and maybe doesn't like getting her bottom (and all that hair) wet.

She is stubborn though and sometimes if I take her in the garden she won't do anything.  I have had other rescues but not encountered this problem.

Any ideas to solve this would be great.  Thanks all.

When you take her out in the garden do you stay with her & reward her when she"performs"?

Seeing where she has come from is she an ex breeding bitch ? If so she might never have neen toilet trained as a pup.

I would go back to basics & treat her as you would a puppy, taking her out & staying with her until she does something & mega praise & reward when she does. Any mishaps in doors say nothing & clean up & descent area.

I agree with ann and would add it may help if u restrict her movements around the house until things improve.
Perhaps keep her in one room ideally where u are most of.the time or she can see u .as she improves .gradually increase how much of the house . I found this successfully with training pups and less stress in clearing up the carpet

As is often best practice with situations like this, it might be a good idea to collect some of her pee and take it, fresh, with her, to your vet.   It could be as simple as a UTI (or maybe spay incontinence) going on so any amount of re-training may not produce the hoped-for improvement.  I'd agree with the suggestion you keep her off any carpeted areas when unsupervised, for now.

Thanks for your advice.  I am definitely restricting her to the kitchen mainly and in the sitting room at night with supervision.  I think she has an aversion to weeing on the grass - was ok in the summer but seems to be permanently wet now.  But I am persevering, standing there until she goes and then lots of praise.  I have taken her to the vet with a wee sample but no infection was found after testing although there was some protein. And she is allowed near carpeted areas unsupervised.  Have had no trouble with poos though.  She always obligingly does those outside.

I will keep at it....x

I meant to say that she is NOT allowed on carpets unsupervised!!

Couple of months can still be early days, if you have other dogs living in the house she could also be reacting to that. One of my girls can do it from time to time, when we are in a new place or a new dog is in the house. And I think she does it because of insecurity - if it's a new dog new smell she would pee on that dog's bed, and once in a hotel room she peed in the middle of the human bed! (that was embarrassing) I think she tries to "establish" herself in that way, and peeing on the bed I though was because it was the most comfortable spot in the hotel room and she probably wanted to secure it to herself lol.

With shelties being fairly sensitive I wouldn't be surprised it this was the reason, she might like the carpet as nice and soft place and it is also the place which holds smells better than hardwood floors so she can smell other dogs there.

It's an obvious point but ensure you are properly cleaning up each time she has an accident. Use an enzymatic spray to remove any residual odour. If she is returning to a similar area each time it could be that despite cleaning up she can still smell her wee, which will prompt her to go again.

Agree with returning to a puppy training regime, to teach her where she needs to go. Check too for any medical issues. Meant to add, does she do this on separation from you? Has she done it in front of you?

Never done it in front of me, no.  And I do't think there are separation issues,  she is  a quiet enigmatic dog,  stubborn too!  Things have improved since I make a point of taking her out to the garden regularly to the same spot ad praising her when she goes.  Very difficult this month as it as been so wet and I have to plod on the squelchy wet grass until she performs.  However tonight I took her to training (and I am looking after my daughter's Jack Russell  this week so 4 dogs here) - it has poured with rain all day.  We got home and within a few minutes when one of us had inadvertently opened the door to the sitting room I found she had peed on the carpet - it was my fault as I should have taken her straight into the garden but with 4 dogs to see to at the moment I was a bit on the slow side.

I know there will be lapses but I feel we are winning on the whole!

It might be worth filming her when she's alone if you can, just to be sure she's relaxed.  Separation issues aren't always obvious.  My older boy is very chilled when I'm around, not clingy, often takes himself off to lie elsewhere etc but he is prone to separation anxiety and takes near constant management to keep him from relapsing.