In a perfect world, you could find him someone who doesn't work, who has another dog and who competes in a dog sport.

But, in this world, I say be picky, but choose your battles, too. If it were me, I'd be more concerned about what they did with the dog when they *were* home then when they *weren't* (unless it was leaving them chained up outside when they weren't).

MY Finn was crated til he was two years old. I don't know how anyone trains a puppy if they're not home and the puppy is left to run around the house. EEK. I shudder to think what Finn would have done to my place if he'd been left out while I was at work.

But, when I was home, we were pretty much always doing something. Whether it was walking, training, playing, eating, laying together, etc.

If you have the choice between someone who is going to crate your Finn for 8 hours a day, but then take him to flyball when he gets home, or play ball or take long walks or train for flyball...or someone who stays home all day, and doesn't crate Finn for very long, but never does more than just letting him outside for potty breaks and a walk once a week or something, I'd go with the crate 8 hours a day. But, that's just me.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do. To me, it doesn't sound like this family is right for Finn, regardless of the crate. Only because I think if you had a good feeling about him, the crate thing would be secondary. I could be way off on that, but that was just my gut feeling when I read your post.