Fenced Yard vs. Crate

Question
I have bought a 10 week old cocker spaniel and have had him for almost 3 weeks now. He seems to be quite comfortable in his crate. I work during the day and usually leave him in the crate for no longer than 4 hours at a time. He is out of his crate for almost an hour everyday when I am on my lunch break. He is also let out right away when I get off of work until it is time to sleep. He is crated during the night, and has recently been able to make it all night in his crate. He has only had one accident in his crate and that was in the first week that I had him. I take him on walks almost every time I take him out of the crate. He is very energetic, especially right before he falls asleep. We have seemed to be able to control his biting and chewing fairly well.
My First Question Is: Am I leaving him in his crate for too long at a time and if so would it have any effect on his behavior?

My Second Question Is: My girlfriend and I live in an apartment right now, but are looking to lease a house soon.
We want to get something with a large fenced backyard for the puppy and ourselves.

Would it be alright to let him out in the backyard during the day while no one is there or would it be better to keep him crated during those times?

Thanks in Advance
-Sam

Answer
Hi Sam firstly if you are in England we tend to have a lot of puppies taken from the back gardens, so my advice would be dont leave him in the garden while you are out, if you are abroad i obviously dont know what your neighbourhood is like and it may be perfectly okay to leave him, you need to find out if there have been any problems with pups being taken.
Secondly i am no expert on crating but personally i do think its rather a long time for a pup to be crated, is there nonone that can pop in, what he is missing out on is socialisation, as he only has himself for company, it tends to lead to destrucion through boredon, make sure you leave him plenty of toys and treats a kong filled with a treat is great for keeping pup occupied.
I hope you can find a way of letting your pup have a little more freedom, if you cant just try to give him as much attention as possible, and yes Cockers do need a lot of excercise and will take as many walks as you can give.
i wish you all the best with your cocker and hope he continues to be such a good boy, he is doing really well by the sounds of it and you must be doing a good job.
all the best
Kathy