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We both work full time and got a puppy (pug) 5 years ago - we ended up penning him in the kitchen with a crate (door open) water bowl, and a pee pad so he could go during the day. He's a freak of nature, but he was holding it for 8 hours a day from about 16 weeks old. Now he has free reign of the house and just sleeps on the couch all day while we're at work. I know this doesn't work in every instance though. Some dogs can't go that long, or have separation anxiety. Maybe you could consider hiring a dog walker for the middle of the day?

As for the crating, some dogs love it and feel comfort in it. Others (mine included) hate it more than anything.

@MrsBrewer: Dogs love to eat cat food and other cat things like poo.

Everybody I know crate trains (in a large crate) or makes it so the dog is only in a certain area--ie the basement or uses baby gates to make sure the dog only stays in the kitchen (which is ideal if you have carpet and/or are concerned about accidents). But nobody I know leaves their dog for 10 hours/day indoors--accidents would surely happen. Larger dogs are fine left outdoors if there's a high enough fence. Is that not an option? Particularly with an older dog? I know my MIL and SIL left their dogs in the backyard during the day

We have a dog and two cats and they all free feed, but no amount of training could keep the pup out of the cats food (it's higher in protein and especially attractive to dogs). So our cats eat on a shelf. If it were on the ground I wouldn't trust her to not go in for a snack.

While crate training sounds cruel, it's actually a very natural mechanism for dogs to have a den as their own space. I'd absolutely recommend crate training at first given that you'll be out of the house for ten hours a day. Until you can absolutely trust the dog to not get into dangerous situations like chewing on electrical wires or eating toilet bowl cleaner it's safer for you and the dog to be in a crate. We started our dog in the crate as a puppy and by eight months we knew we could trust her to not destroy the house, but she wasn't always 100% perfect until she was about a year and a half. Now she sleeps on the guest bed during the day and stays out of trouble.

Also, ten hours is a long time for the dog to be alone. Do you have a dog walker in the neighborhood? Some dogs will be fine holding it that long, but other cannot go ten hours between bathroom breaks.

Another thing you'll want to think about is the level of boredom that long periods of alone time might create. Our dog needs something to do or she gets a little nutty. As long as she has plenty of exercise (mental and physical) she's wonderful to be around, but without it she's tough to manage.

I second the crating while away...dogs are denning animals and actually like the crate. Our newest dog (had her for about 5 years now) was a rescue and LOVED her little den (crate). She would hang out in it even while we were home. You never know what could happen with cats, even if the dog has been labeled as "safe with cats" by the rescue.

Good luck with the new addition! I'd take them all home if I could!

@MrsBrewer: I meant out in the house, not outside. We have nice weather, but I wouldn't trust him to not dig out under the fence or something.

@MrsBrewer: It does seem cruel if you think about it from a human's point of view (being locked in a tiny cage!), but as many other PPs have said, if it's done right, dogs love the security of it

We've got two dogs and they're fine all day. When we lived in our old house, we crated them with no problems. Now, in our new house, we have a utility room so they stay in there all day, with a puppy pad in case they can't hold their pee all day - and they're fine! I'd say, as long as they get enough exercise - walks morning and night - dogs will just relax all day while home alone.

i also second what @April_showers said about putting the cat bowls up on a bookcase or worktop. Our dogs will eat anything and, whilst we've trained them not to do certain things in front of us, once we're gone they'll do as they please!

We crate trained our dog for about a year. I wasn't comfortable with leaving her unattended in a new home she wasn't familiar with. Its also for her safety, too. I didn't want her getting into something that could make her sick.

My dog had some anxiety issues so we took her to doggie day care while we were at work. She was there for a couple weeks. Also, it gave us some time to crate and house train her.

Could you take your dog to doggie day care?

Oh, stick with a medium to large size dog since they have larger bladders. Tiny dogs have smaller bladders so they need to be taken out more frequently.

We got our dog as a rescue when he was just about 1 and he was actually fine going a whole work day from the start, though we didn't know if he would be. We did crate him during the day-- he was already crate trained when we got him, so it was more comforting to him to remain in the crate like he was used to, than to be let out in the unfamiliar apartment with unfamiliar noises. Like everyone else is saying, it really isn't cruel and he would sleep in there even when the door was open. We only eventually got rid of it because it was ugly! Definitely read up about it. Plus, I think since you have cats, it is really important that you separate them from the dog while you aren't at home until you are really sure how they get along. As for the food-- my BIL has cats and when he watches my dog, the dog is always trying to eat their food. So I'd go with putting it out of his reach over trying to train that!

@MrsBrewer: We keep it in our bedroom

We have a small dog and we crate her during the day (almost 2 years old.) We both work from 7:45- 5:15. We have tried to leave her out now that she is potty trained, but she had too many accidents that way. She loves her kennel though, she knows when I grab my purse in the mornings to go in there. We do leave her out if we are only gone for 3-4 hours.

Our former dog had a bladder of steel, and could hold it forever. 10 hours was nothing. He once refused to go out for 24 hours because it was storming, and then he just peed for like twenty minutes straight when he finally deigned to leave the house.
Our current dog is the same way- he can go a ten hours workday, and then will refuse to go outside after we get home because he wants to hang out inside with us instead (we have a fenced in backyard, so we typically just let him out there when we get home, and wait till after dinner to walk him).
I might suggest looking into local rescue organizations that put dogs in foster homes as well as the human society- good rescues may have more information on things like how a dog can handle cats, whether the dog has separation anxiety, and whether the dog has any issues that would make it hard to leave him for 10 hours (small bladder, etc.) or require crating (destructive behaviors, etc.).
An organization that fosters dogs with families may also have more information on how that dog does with kids, which is really nice.

I think this is definitely doable if you adopt an adult dog. We adopted both of our furbabies when they were puppies, but I was able to come home during lunch and also work from home a lot until they were potty-trained and crate-trained.

Now I work from home 1-2 days a week and they do well for 8-10 hour stretches on my office days (I no longer live close enough to come home at lunch). But they are 5 and 4 years old and can "hold it," they usually just sleep in their crates which are left open in our laundry room.

We adopted our dog 2 years ago and both work full time, but DH works more flexible, "odd" hours so he's often home during the day with the dog. That being said, there have been many times, including early on when we first got her, where she's been home alone for something like 12 hours, because he had to leave early and cover a football game all night and I wouldn't be home until late. She was already potty-trained so she has always been fine as long as she goes out to pee or whatever before anybody leaves her. Adult dogs can hold their bladders for a very long time, and I'm pretty sure all she does is sleep the whole time we're gone anyway. She's only gone in the house one time, and it was because she had a stomach bug and had diarrhea and absolutely could not hold it.

We did crate her in the beginning, and like others have said, it's not actually cruel even though it can be difficult to do. We crated her because when we were leaving her home alone, she was chewing everything to high heaven. The last straw was when she completely destroyed our bedroom pillows. She managed to stay in the crate for maybe 2 weeks or so and then something must have spooked her -- or else she just put her foot down -- because she would NOT get in the crate anymore! She was shaking and looking ashamed and wouldn't go in. We didn't want to drag her in there if she was scared, so we just started putting all shoes, hats, etc. into our bedroom and closing the door. She would then only chew random things like DH's checkbook, or a pen, or a book, if they were left out. We soon realized it was separation anxiety, because she was doing it almost as soon as we left. Over time, it eased up and she rarely ever chews anything -- we can even leave our bedroom door open now (though we try to remember to close it) and she won't chew shoes or anything. I think it might have just been PTSD from being abandoned and then taken to the shelter. It took her time to realize we were coming back!

Other than that, it's been fine having her though we work a lot. We make sure to pay plenty of attention to her when we are there, take her on daily walks, and let her run around the back yard. As for the cat's room -- and poo -- she knows not to go in there. She's so smart! She will go right up to the door, if we're in there, and just peek her head in, but not come in the room. Then again... not everybody can put their litter box in another room. As far as cat food is concerned, we put it up high so only the cat can reach it. He will also eat the dog's food, but he's a stubborn asshole. Cat food can be very harmful to dogs, but dog food isn't that bad for cats, so we let it slide.

Sorry that was so long, I hope it helped at least a little!

I'm another big proponent of crate training. We got a 3 month old puppy and at first he didn't really like his crate. We were worried that we were torturing him, but after a few weeks, he started to love it. Even if he is in there a long time, he won't potty. It's his "room" and he doesn't want to mess it up! He also gets excited to go in because we give him special treats and toys only at crate time.

I honestly would not get a dog and NOT crate train them if you work full time, unless you have it on good authority from prior caretakers that they will be an angel. Our dog is really good, but he still chews on things, gets into the garbage, etc. When dogs are left alone, they get bored or anxious and can really do damage and possibly endanger themselves.

As for your work schedule, a puppy really shouldn't be in a crate longer than their age in months plus 1. So if you got a 3 month old puppy, 4 hours is the longest they can go. Obviously an older dog could do 8 hours, but even then I would not have any dog in a crate longer than 8 hours a day with any regularity.

My husband and I work long hours, and so we send our dog to doggy daycare at least once a week. On days that he has to go longer than 8 hours in the crate, we take him to the dog park to get his pent up energy out. It's important for a crate trained dog to get a lot of exercise anyway, because they are sleeping in a confined area all day. It really is a commitment, I won't kid you about that, but it is doable and it's been so worth it for us. We love our little one!