Good luck to you, whatever you decide. I think it totally depends on where you are as to how much you can trust your dog outside, and the people around you.

I am fortunate enough to have a home office these days, and have for about 3 1/2 years now. So I'm home most of the time. But, I will admit, at the risk of angering some of my best Pet Talk friends, that I did leave my dogs outdoors a lot at my previous house, when I worked in an office (always came home at lunch) and when I ran errands or went out for a few hours. My two Golden Retrievers never tried to leave the yard, and there was no high incident of dog thefts in our area, so I never worried about that either. One of them definitely preferred to be outdoors, and it just made sense to do it. Of course, when there was inclimate weather, I didn't leave them outdoors. But I did this even when Lilly was a young puppy. In hind sight, I might have done it a little bit differently.

Bottom line is that you need to trust your judgement. My situation was different because I had two, always, to entertain each other, not just one dog. I still leave my dogs out on occasion, but only when the weather is simply so gorgeous that I think they need to be outside! Today, I'm at home, and I have one of the sliding glass doors open and they can come and go as they please. Guess what? They are all inside, sleeping right here beside me! LOL!!!