leaving my puppy at home

for a puppy that young who isn't fully housetrained, it's unwise to leave it unsupervised at home, whether in a crate or not. puppies aren't able to hold their bladders as well as older dogs, so crating for an extended period of time may force it to eliminate inside the crate. puppies should be taken out every two hours so they can eliminate when being housetrained. is there someone you can ask to come over and watch the pup while you're gone? try to come home during lunchtime as well, not only to let your puppy do its business, but to spend more time with it.

Well, as true as it may be that a puppy that young should not be left alone for that period of time, it is not always feasible for some people to go home for lunch or have someone sit with your pup all day while you are at work.  I know some people would also say that if you can't manage one of those options then you should not get a puppy, but at this point it doesn't seem like that advice is going to help you since you already have the puppy.
 
My advice would be that if you have an area in your house with linolium or some other surface that can be easily cleaned (like the kitchen), I would suggest you get a play gate so that you can section off an area in your kitchen where the puppy can have room to move around during the day and put a puppy pad for a potty area on one end and an area for food and a dog bed or his/her crate left open on the other end.  There is this wonderful roduct called a Superyard XT Play Gate (do a google search for it) that is made of plastic and it is adjustable and portable that is perfect for this type of thing.  You can open it up and make it into a rectangle and use a corner wall to close it in to make the space big enough to keep the food and potty areas seperate.  Don't make the area too big or the pup will eliminate all over the place because it can't hold it's bladder and can't make it too far to get to the pad, but make it big enough so that the food and bed area can be far enough from the potty area that it doesn't think it should go potty where it eats/rests/plays. 
 
I would introduce the puppy to the area while you are at home for the evening so you can watch and correct the pup if it goes somewhere other than the puppy pad by calmly telling it "No" and picking it up and placing it on the puppy pad and saying "This is where we go potty".  Make sure you introduce it to the potty area first and say "go potty" when you place it on the puppy pad.  Praise her/him heavily when it uses the puppy pad.
 
You are probably going to come home to some messes for a while, but eventually it will understand where to go potty.
 
This is not the BEST option for your pup's training, but if you don't have anyone to puppy sit for you during the day while you are at work then it is better than leaving it in crate all day.
 
Hope this helps.

ok thanks a lot for all the tips. I think that I will try the closed off area method. I hope this works, has anybody ever gotten a puppy and wasn't able to attend to it before? If so, i would appreciate the experience that you have

Well, I have two puppies right now and have experience with this.  See my recent post: [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=55768]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=55768[/link]
 
 

would a better alternative be to returning the puppy to the breeder and getting him back once summer starts? this way i have a full 2 months of training before work begins

That, my friend, is up to you.  You have to decide what is best for the pup and you.  If you would feel more comfortable doing that and the breeder is willing to take resposibility for the pup until then or work out an arrangement with you...then think about it as an option and decide what you want to do.

thanks for everything missa, I'm just scared that my puppy will develop behavior problems being left alone for a long period of time...can this happen?

Do you have anyone (a friend, neighbor, dog walker) who can come let your pup out for a few minutes a couple times a day while you are gone?  A lot of walkers have puppy programs wehre they do several short walks throughout the day for the price of one longer one - for puppies up until a year or so...  For housebreaking, I think the general rule is that the more accidents that are allowed to happen, the harder housebreaking is - so whatever you can do to avoid accidents, you should try to do.  What did the breeder say to do, before you got the puppy - I am assuming this was not a spur of the moment decision?

well I guess you can say it was partially "spur of the moment" because, although I have everything ready for him....crate, food, etc...I did not take in the most important fact that he will be at home alone. I think that I can let him out at lunchtime and in between the time when I'm gone he can go do his business on a pee pad.

Both my husband and I work - I run a restaurant, he has a "normal" job.  We have weird hours.  When we first got our puppy, we had to leave it alone but we confined him to the kitchen.  We laid out pee pads everywhere to get him used to going on them, and then eventually eliminated all the pee pads except for the one in the place he used the most.  He had his crate, food and water and some chew toys.  He couldn't get to anything else.  We used a baby gate made of metal and wood.  Don't use a plastic gate if he's a chewer. We left the TV on for him and lights. He was fine.  He still is fine.  He's smarter now, but he still has to stay in the kitchen when we're not home.  Now, two days a week, he goes to day camp where he can play with other dogs and be watched.  The other 3 days he is home.  We don't have a dog walker or sitter and we're fine.  You can make this work, but just expect to do clean up every night for a while.  Just remember, it DOES get easier.   Good luck and congrats on your puppy!