I have 4 dogs and leave them all day, every day of the week. But I also have a wonderful little thing called a doggy door. I have my kitchen/hallway gated in the house so they don't have complete run of the house. The yard is divided in half, and they can't escape or damage anything in their half.

Now that they are older, I can leave for short periods and let them have run of the house.

I'd probably wait until the're 4 months old to leave them in the yard, even with all the proper precautions. Puppies have an uncanny knack of finding stuf to get into.

Mary