OK to leave dog alone all day?

[Louie and me]

I agree that you should only leave a mature dog alone for the day as they can "hold it" better.
Having said that, in my experience it is really important that you give them a long walk before you leave so they are tired, pooped out LOL and their bladders are empty. It sometimes means getting up earlier but both you and the dog will benefit from it in the long run.

[Spiritwind]

I think it just depends on the dog...

Like other people said, you'd have better luck with an adult dog than a puppy... if the dog has to be alone for several hours a day.... but as long as you are able to give the dog enough time and exercise when your home, a adult dog should be able to adjust....

when I first moved to North Carolina, I got a job at a vet clinic in Greensboro (about 45 minute drive one way from my house)... and on top of the drive time, this place has horrible working hours... typically I worked 7am-6pm... 2 nights a week they were open until 8pm and some of those nights I had to close.... and because of the drive I wasn't able to make it home and back on lunch breaks.... so my dogs were home alone almost 13-14 hrs a day.... while they seemed to be fine, I HATED it!.... because by the time I got home, took a shower, fed dogs... it was time to go to bed.. they didn't get a lot of time... thankfully I do not work up there anymore!.. and will never work hours like that again!!... it gave me no time for my own animals....

Though 2 times when I worked those hours I had puppies.... talk about NO humanly possible way to crate train... would NEVER do it that way again, if I worked hours like that... but there wasn't much I could do at the time.. if the weather was decent I could leave the pups outside in a fenced area behind my house and have my neighbors come over a couple times a day to check on them and feed them.... and then they came inside at night to play, eat and be with the rest of the dogs (my adult dogs)...