Mine is 8 months as well and I leave her alone for 8 hours a day. I started out slowly; crating her and coming home at lunch. Then I let her out of the crate but gated off an area so she could walk around (she was crate trained and potty trained in no time!). Then I came home an hour later for lunch... until she was alone all day.
I always take her out for a nice walk in the morning, so she's gotten some exercise. And when I leave, I give her a kong with her favorite treat. Most of the time she's so busy getting the treat out of the toy that she doesn't even notice I'm gone. I also leave little pieces of treats all over the area she's in (kind of hide them)... and I leave a radio on.
Every day when I come home, she's sooooooooo excited to see me. The first thing I do is give her a cuddle and take her straight out the door for a walk.
__________________  Trixie |