I'm also in the same boat with having to leave Buddy alone during the day for about 9 hours. My fiance' is sometimes home a few hours earlier, but it's not consistent. In the morning, Buddy usually cries for us. We keep him in our master bath with a baby gate in the door. He has his food, toys, and bed on one side of the room and pee pad on the other side. We also keep the TV on, but sometimes I think he could care less. Eventually he settles down and just waits for us to get home. It breaks my heart though to hear him cry and try to jump over the gate for us when we leave...since he is only 6 months old. A trainer told me that if he isn't tearing things apart, it's most likely a confidence issue and not so much seperation anxiety. Buddy does sleep with us and when we are home, we play with him for several hours, and we also try to take him with us on errands. We have also considered getting another dog so that he has a company...since right now, his only company is our cat, and although she tolerates him, it's not the same as another dog that he can play with.
