After everyones help and advice I have decided to go for a Labrador puppy.

As I have explained before I work 9 till five with an hour for lunch and I have also looked into getting a dog walker in for an hour in the afternoon.

While I'm at work should I put the puppy in the crate and if so do I use it again at night???

That seems to long a period to me

Would it be okay to only use it during the day and then have her in our bedroom at night or is that just asking for trouble??

Personally I don't think I would want to crate a puppy for long periods during the day.
I'm not saying he/she should have the run of the house while you're at work but could you restrict him to, say, the kitchen to give him a bit more space. As you probably know young puppies do not have much bladder control and it would probably distress him if he had nowhere to 'go' apart from in his crate.

Joyce

If you have a room like your kitchen where the pup can be safely left (no wires to chew etc) then I would use the kitchen as her play area and leave th crate Open during the day.

You could attach a good sized Puppy pen (they come as Panels that fit together) but for a bigger pup they have too much give, unelss they can be fixed to the walls to make them more rigid, or Croft do a heavy duty box section puppy pen that is rigid, but pricey.

I would not think it right to crate any dog for a whole working day, with just a lunch break.

The pup would need plenty of toys to play with, and a TV or Radio left on for a bit of company.

Be prepared for the damage tho :) Our pup was left for short periods in her crate if we were out and so did no damage. Even when left out of the crate, unsupervised, for 5 or 10 minutes, she has managed to chew the skirting boards in the kitchen, chair legs, door frames and even small holes in the wall. All this occured during short periods of being left alone - she is an Aussie, who are not known for doing large amounts of damage compared to labradors (hopefully, someone will correct me if I am wrong :) ). We were prepared for some damage and intend to refit our kitchen when she is a bit older :)

She seems to have stopped now, but the chewing went on, on and off, for 4/5 months.

Daisy