How long can you leave your dog?

Question
Hello. I wonder if you could help me... We had a lovely dog for 8 years. She sadly passed away last January, our family was devestated! She really was one in a million,   We have never thought about another dog until now, my children. 9 and 11, have been asking for a dog recently. My problem is my working hours have increased since having our Krissy in our family, I work Monday to Friday 8.30 till 3, so the house is empty for nearly 7 hours mon to Friday, I would find a rescue as I know a puppy would not be I good idea, do you think this is to long for any dog to be left alone? Thank you for reading this, I hope to get your opinion kind regards

Answer
Melonie,

First a am sorry to hear about your dog passing. They really are a big part of our families. We put our 15 year old dog down 5 years ago and i still miss him. About 10 months ago we found a rescue dog about 2 hours away from us and now "buddy" is part of our family. You can go with a pup or an older dog. The pup would have to be crate trained and the older dog would have to be house broken already. Dogs can hold it in for many hours...I'm sure they dont like to...who does ;-) If they get a nice walk in the morning they should adjust to your schedule in just a short time. Most families now are 2 income and they have dogs and the dogs sometimes go over 8 hours before someone gets home so this is not a big deal for the dog. If you get a rescue you are saving a life so holding it in for a while is not a big deal. Make sure he has a few toys and a good chew bone like a nylabone...Stay away from rawhide,its too hard to break down  after they eat it. Go natural stuff like pig ears and bully sticks. Also make sure you buy your food from a pet store. The big box stores have oats and corn meal as a main ingredient. Make sure the first ingredient is a meat, fish or chicken. Feeding them the big box store food is like taking them to McDonalds every day. If you have any follow up questions please feel free to ask.

Take care

Gary