Ok, here is the situation. We have a 10 week old german shepherd puppy. The dog is great! From day one he has accepted the crate and not whined. I think that the breeder did some of this before we got him. He is almost potty trained and we have had only 1 mistake in the house. This was at the time our fault becuase we lost eyes on him for a second. Our biggest struggle with him is trying to make the best decision on where to keep him during the day when me and the wife are at work. I built a kennel in the back but decided not to use that becuase I worried about his safety. Our second choice was to bring him to doggy day care that is EXACTLY right next door to my wifes work. There he is kept in the crate and NOT with other dogs. My wife will also check on him several times during the day to walk him to get some excercise. The thing is though, I worry about the establishing pack structure when he is there. How will I do this if he is with other people during the day? Isnt he just supposed to be with the family during this stage of training? I am just soooo confused on this. Our other option that we have been contimplating is keeping him at home in the crate during the day, and then having someone who we trust coming over once a day to feed him and walk him. But again, does this defeat the whole training purpose with us? I just dont want to screw him up and want his training to go well. If you guys recommend anything my ears are all open. Please let me know what you think. thanks.

Based on how you described the way he would be kept at the daycare and its proximity to your wife's work, I would go with that option.

I don't think there will be any more problem with him and his bond to you than if you had a trusted person come by and check on him at home.

It actually sounds like you have a great situation!

Thanks Jessica. That makes me feel better. Maybe I am just overthinking the whole situation and making it harder than it really should be.