How old should a dog be before I leave it alone for eight hours?

I want to adopt a dog, but it will probably be alone for eight hours a day. What is the right age when a dog is old enough to be left alone.I work out of state and my wife is a doctor. I will be out of state only four days every fourteen days. Our kids go to school and get home at three. We were going to leave here at home with a bunch of toys and let her roam where she wants. Would that be alright for a dog over 6 months or is that too young.

Pretty much any age as long as you've owned it for about two weeks and it's aware of it's surroundings.

9 months or higher

Any age, as long as you know the dog wont rip your house up

well if a dog is 1 years old that means it's 7 years old in it's dog years....go if you leave your dog for 8 hours ,your dog is about 5 years old and a half = 5.6

8 hours every day or eight hours here and there?8 hours every day is too much. Here and there, anytime is fine just make sure the dog has been taken out, gone to the toilet, fed, has water and has a few things to do when you are out - chew, toys, leave the radio on for him and be prepared for a accident when you get home.ADD. DETAILS: I have a 3 year old rescue Labrador and we do leave her at home about the same amount of days you would. I work full time as does my partner but he works from home a lot and sometimes only has to go in the office a day every two weeks, when he does she can be left up to about 7 hours. She is fine alone, I do make sure I plan for the days she will be alone and take her out the night before for a really long walk and make sure I get up in enough time to give her at least a hour of my time in the morning. I do not believe leaving her upsets her otherwise I wouldn't do it. By luck more then anything we got the right dog to suit us so make sure you think about a dog to fit your family. Due to my inexperience with rescue dogs, stupidly, before I got her I did not realise how important this would be and how the baggage your dogs comes with can effect you. My dog was very badly treated and some of this treatment she is not recovered from and some of what she was taught has made her fit in perfectly. On the other hand, my mum took her sister and she is so insecure she can not be left and she would never fit in to my family but is perfect for my mum as she is disabled and does not leave the house. Overall, leaving them is fine but not for 5 days a week unless that is a odd week twice a year. If you know it is for 4 days in 2 weeks then the dog will be fine.I would get one around 3 if you can as they will be toilet trained and mostly out of the chewing phase, also you will be able to see what kind of personality they have as puppies change and your dog will still be young enough to act like a daft pup!

After one and half year.

Mine was about 7 months old but I was home with him over the summer for 3 months and trained him slowly by building up to it. I got him when he was a puppy.

You are showing as UK and I have to say that if you are planning on adopting which I assume means rescue then I know of no UK rescue that will allow a dog into a home with a full time work schedule. If you manage to find one then make it over one year old, but make sure it has not found itself in rescue or up for private rehoming BECAUSE of being left long hours and being destructive / barking all day. We have just had one in rescue that was chewing up when left and so we have had to find her someone who is home all the time... and we have which is good.

I would consult a veterinarian as different breeds have certain physical and emotional traits,characteristics that would make the advice different.

i dont think any dog should be left that long i suppose it depends in the breed but if your not going to be there for it why get one at all

Eight hours a day everyday is too long really. Could you not come home for lunch? It would make all the difference...

any age it may cry tho so make sure u put of alot of toys

USA

If you plan on leaving a dog at home for eight hours a day, then you should NOT get a puppy. A dog around two years or older will be good for you because they can generally hold their bladder longer than pups can. My dog is two and regardless of what other people are saying she is just fine being being left at home. Even when my family members try to let her out while I'm gone, she'll just continue to sleep. Keep in mind though she is completely house broken. I walk her before I leave play a game of fetch. I also ensure she has emptied her bladder. I give her a rawhide treat, her blanket, and her teddy. If you are going to leave your dog at home for eight hours, i would recommend tiring them out first with a walk, run, or a game.

any age. I try to stay home for a week when I get a new puppy but sometimes it's just not possible, so they are home without us for a regular working day from pretty much day one. All my pups have grown into happy, healthy adults. You have to have patience with house breaking for sure, with a puppy but if you get an older dog from a shelter or rescue it may relapse for a couple of days but most of the time, there are few issues like that.

Never! Puppies need to be taken out every hour, after every sleep, feed and short period of playtime to begin with. They should not be left for longer than 2 hours, absolute maximum, and crated. And that's just addressing the house-training!! Mentally puppies need stimulation, not shutting in a house alone, for hours.Adult dogs should not be left (especially crated) for longer than 4 hours at a stretch on a regular basis, without being able to go out and empty. Yes, people do this, but for me, two wrongs don't make a right. If a dog is forced to hold for that length of time, you will be storing up the potential for kidney problems, not getting into the total boredom for any dog = mental problems. And the potential for destruction from the boredom. Dogs, unlike cats, are social animals, and are always best being with their humans. And even if they sleep when you are around, during the daytime, it's quite different when you are not there. I've left a tape running to hear what mine did when we were out - it was quite an eye-opener. They paced most of the time (we had lots of wood flooring so could hear) for starters.You might find an older dog, perhaps one who is used to living a solitary life like this, but this wouldn't be something I'd do to a dog. Sorry.ps I had to go back to working full time, 3 days a week at one point when we had a financial crisis. But we had numbers, so they had company. However, they went back to peeing indoors and that included when we went out during the evening - simply because they got into the routine of not expecting me back to let them out. It's one thing to find circumstances change however (and I stopped working as soon as we could do this again), but quite another to bring a puppy/adult into that situation.

I cant believe how many people on this have said "any age"How cruel!I dont believe you should get a puppy or dog for that matter that is alone 8hours of the day!My german shep isnt left for many hours and it breaks my heart to leave her for an hour!!! :-)However i dont agree with people that say dogs should never be left alone.. come on!! A persons social life is important and people need to get out the house and sometimes its not appropriate to take dogs!Look into getting a different animal? Maybe a cat?