In the past when I worked for a living I used to leave the dogs all day. I worked in the centre of London so there was no chance of getting home for lunch. I did work flexi time so could escape early but I think it all comes down to quality time anyway, lets face it many dogs have owners around all day but still don't have a particularly good life. Once I became self employed my dog came to work with me, and the lazy sod slept under the desk all day.

My pair have both always been at home while we work full time and i don't think they have missed out on anything. They go for walks everyday have toys and kongs to keep them busy and cassie has her arm chair. When we are at home we spend quality time with them both and at weekends the come with us most places.

Even when i have a day off in the week the dogs don't change there rountine and either sleep of play with there toys during the day.

I think it is true what somebody else has said about the quality time when you are there.
I work full time but have a very good dog minded family who go in and visit the dogs let them out into the garden etc. But I also walk them before and after work as well as agility training, obedience training, socialisation classes etc as well as actually competing so they are active despite my working.
Then you compare this with my neighbours who rarely leave their dog for more than a hour or so and it gets one two-minute walk a day and is obese.
I think that my dogs are pleased when 'the slave driver' goes to work LOL!

I have 4 dogs living with me and i work full time. I split my dogs so that they are together during the day but not getting pestered.. So Riley is with Delilah who will just go to sleep with him, but the two juvenile delinquents Maya and Cassia are together lol They'd drive the other two mad i think..

My job is only about 2 mins drive from my house so i go home every lunchtime to let them out and spend an hour with them. They are generally asleep when i go home so they dont seem too bothered by me leaving them.

They all get a walk morning and night. The labs get about 1 &1/2 hours walk each day (half hr in morning, hr at night) and Maya and Lilah have a shorter walk morning and night just because Maya cant walk too far yet!

I would love to not work and spend all day with my dogs (and horses, and birds lol) but sadly my working pays for their food so its not an option. They are with me all the time i am home and they are very rarely crated so i dont think they mind too much!

I've done 12 hour shifts before. I think thats too much tho.

My three are left alone during the day.

I work really close to home, so very often pop home at lunchtime - but all this achieves is me waking them up!

They're lazy beggars and just sleep all day

I definitely think I get more out of the lunchtime visit than they do

I work full time and Jess is left for 8 hours Mon-Fri and she is fine. She has no-one popping in in the day (I don't trust anyone enough and my family live 110 miles away) and is a very happy doggie She gets walked everyday and at the weekends gets two big park walks (one of which is generally in a big pack of dogs) so she is well socialised, exercised and well behaved (other than when she sees another dog whilst on lead, but that is another story).

I would love to work part time and I am thinking about asking my boss soon if I can cut my hours, but Jess is absolutely fine with our regime. When we get ready for work in the morning, we have out set routine and she will go lie on her bed before we leave the house and is great with it.

I would love her to have another dog as company, BUT I would panic too much (I was nearly having a labradoodle) about them fighting or not getting on/wrecking the house.

Both me and Ste work full time.
Fin comes to work with me most days, and Teagan stays at home. She has the run of the whole house, and also a dog flap into the garden.
I have tried bringing her to work lots of times, and she hates it! She loves being at home.
Due to my health at the moment, the dogs don't get walked daily, but get a long walk on a Sunday at the beach, or forest.
None of them complain, or act any different, or suffer from us being at work, or not walking daily.
All our time at home is spent with them, they even take it in turns sleeping with us!
We play games (mental and physical), and play in the garden.

I have a bit of a mixed view on this subject. I am a full time student and only see my girfriends dog at the weekends. She, however is with her dog all the time. When we go out at the weekend the first thing I do when I come back is go and sit on the sofa, to be greeted by a big ball of fluff jumping into my lap.

I think that anything beyond 10 hours a day is excessive, but without the full-time work you wouldnt be able to pay for your dogs food, insurance etc.

My concern when I got Oscar was that, one day, I may have to work full-time. However, I still live at home and there are 3 of us. I am looking at increasing my hours for financial reasons. My mum works part-time, my sister is at sixth form college and doesn't have a full timetable and she's going to be doing shift work in September. I will try and tie them in with my sister's job and my mum's job. Oscar is the sort of dog who craves company and being around people. I couldn't and wouldn't leave him for more than 4 or 5 hours. It's complicated but I'll work it out.