My 1 year old beagle

Question
By the age of 4 months, my dog was potty trained.  I have a doggie door that leads to a fenced in back yard and the dog always goes outside.  Over the last 6 weeks my dog goes to the bathroom in the house.  The other day she pooped on my couch.  This behavior started when my eldest daughter went away for 2 weeks. I thought perhaps it was some type of separation problem, however she is back and the dog is still doing it.  When we leave the house, we hear her crying in the house, and then when we come home she has made a mess some where.  My husband and I have always worked and the kids have always been in school.  It's not like this is a new situation to her.  I tell her I'm leaving and that I will be back. I give her a toy and when I return I give her a treat.  Then when she started to make a mess in the house I read an article that told me to leave an old shit or something that might have my smell on it.  I did that and she pooped on my old shirt. We now put her in a cage that is pushed up against the doggie door so she can go outside if she wants, however when she returns she can only walk into her cage.  Yesterday she snuck out of her cage, she pushed it away form the doggie door, and urinated in 2 spots and pooped 1 time. I am frustrated.  Even when I was potty training her, she would sometime have an accident, however it was always very close to the doggie door. So you knew she just didn't make it in time. She always knows she has done wrong because when we walk into the door, and if she has done something wrong, she puts her body down on the floor, runs out the door, or hides under the kitchen table.  I don't know what to do anymore! Can you please give me some advice.

Answer
This really sounds like a pack status problem.  Is she spayed?  If not do so.  It is getting close to 6 months from her first season, or could she approaching her first?  It would be good to start with a vet check in any case.

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm