This.
Please deeply consider the overall quality of life you can provide in the long-run before getting a pup.
Since you desperately want one… hold off and gift yourself a pup for Christmas if everything can be done.
I desperately wanted to eat half a watermelon for dinner last night. So I did. Now I’m sick.
My dog has been home alone for twelve or fourteen hours. He does fine (as long as the garbage can is behind a door and their isn’t food on the counter). Bladder of iron and he naps the day away - and he’s done it for years, even as a one or two year old dog - not often mind you - we are usually home after six to nine hours. But the occasionally fourteen hour day WITH A DOG WHO CAN HANDLE IT works.
As a puppy, we had a walker who would come by mid-day so the dog would get out after about four hours - and at that point we had younger kids so our schedules tended to make for an adult home quickly to shorten the kids day care or home alone hours.
So, to all those people who say that I can’t own a dog, what’s the maximum amount of time one can leave a dog alone? Can anyone who works a normal 50 hour week have a dog? Are all the dogs owned by suburbanites who are alone for 8 hours a day terribly neglected? Death would be superior for these dogs?
I think you can make it work with the right dog. Which is not a puppy. Please don’t get a puppy. You won’t be able to properly potty train it, and you won’t know what kind of energy level you’re going to end up with.
If it was me, I would get a small dog from a rescue group. One known to be low energy, and that you can litter train. Small dogs are terrific, they have just as much personality as big dogs but are much more convenient to travel with, and easier to arrange care for if you need to leave them alone.
I agree that it’s better to be in a suboptimal home than in the pound, but you can’t make that argument for a puppy. For you both to end up happy, you’re much better off with an adult.
Yeah I agree re: the puppy. It would definitely be an adult, low energy dog
Then I think it would be fine. I have 4 dogs, one of which would be perfectly happy with you. She’s lazy, sweet, and quiet. The other three would be a complete disaster. So just get the right one. 
It would be tough for you to care for a dog, but REALLY tough to keep a puppy.
A puppy, by definition, is GOING to pee and poop everywhere and he’s GOING to chew things up, because that’s what puppies do until they’re trained not to. And it takes a lot of time and effort to train them not to. You don’t have the time to do that training.
There ARE adult dogs who can sit quietly, happily, lazily at home until you return. It isn’t easy to find them, but if you make the effort, you can find one. But there are NO puppies who can do so. You’d have to crate them all day (which is rough on them, and will lead to yapping or howling that will irritate your neighbors) or let them roam free (which means they’ll destroy your house while you’re away).
You PROBABLY shouldn’t get a dog. You DEFINITELY shouldn’t get a puppy.
It depends entirely on the dog. There are two issues:
How long can I leave a dog alone before he needs to pee/poop? This can be mitigated somewhat by providing the dog its own access to an outdoor space (doggy door, connected garage, etc…) or other space for the dog to “do his business” (e.g. absorbent dog training mats, laid-down newspaper). For example, my own dog needs to be let out at least every 6 hours throughout day or accidents happen. He can comfortably last 9 hours through the night if necessary, although I usually don’t ask him to hold it for that long each night.
How long can I leave a dog alone before he gets lonely/anxious? This is highly dog dependent. Some dogs are fine playing with toys by themselves, staring out windows, and napping all day. Others need frequent interaction. My dog starts to go crazy after being alone for more than 3 hours, and will get extremely anxious and destructive if left alone for longer. Even though I work long hours, I work from home, so my dog is happy with a cycle of several minutes of interaction followed by a long nap throughout the day, with a long walk or two thrown in for good measure.
Other solutions I’ve seen: dropping the dog off at doggy daycare every workday (and the dog being fine with a doggy daycare environment), hiring a dog walker to stop by in the middle of the day (and the dog being fine alone for 4-5 hours at a time), driving home during one’s meal breaks to care for the dog, a roomate/significant other/spouse who is home for large parts of each day.
As for “death would be superior?”, that’s a value judgement for each person to decide for himself, and again, it is highly dog dependent. But leaving a dog alone for long stretches when that dog isn’t physically and mentally equipped to deal with such situations is very psychologically damaging to the dog. It can lead to behavioral issues, sometimes quite severe issues, which can leads to a poor quality of life for the dog.
I agree you shouldn’t get a puppy. I would suggest an older dog who is content with laying around and doesn’t require a lot of exercise. I am single, live alone, and have no yard. I adopted a three year old mix 5 years ago he seems happy. We take a short walk in the morning, and then I leave at 7 and get home at 4. We then take 2-3 more walks or go to the dog park.
I think if he could talk he would say he prefers this life to one in a cage.
Agree with your whole post and I think this point especially is one that many people dismiss as not being terribly important. Until the dog tears up the furniture, of course. If you (the OP) are able to find a low-energy dog that can hold his bladder for 9 or 10 hours, and you can’t afford daycare or a petsitter, I very much recommend you get TWO dogs to keep each other company. I have two, partly for that reason. We had our first and she had separation anxiety. When we adopted our second dog a year later, magically the first dog was able to stay home alone without a fuss. She doesn’t seem to like him much*, they never play together, they both lay around and sleep all day. But he is still company for her and keeps her calm.
On the topic of how long you can reasonably expect a dog to hold his bladder, when we adopted our first the adoption people asked me how long I could hold my own. I shouldn’t expect the dog to be able hold it any longer than I can. And the truth is that I can’t go more than about 4 hours without bursting, so having my dogs hold it for 5 hours is still kind of pushing it. They can hold it that long, and actually my boy can easily hold it for 8 hours. But there is a difference between holding it because he wants to and holding it because he’s forced to. I go home for lunch every day to give them a potty break and when I can’t then I make other arrangements.
Another idea that is a bit innovative is to get one of these: Amazon.com : PetZoom Pet Park Deluxe 3-Piece Dog Relief System : Pet Training Pads : Pet Supplies
You’d have to clean it daily like a cat litter box and it might smell up your house. But the dog wouldn’t have to risk UTI’s from holding it too long.
I would plan to have a dog walker come every day that i’m working. But, regardless, my landlord said “no pets” so the point is unfortunately moot 
OP, I’m glad you went through this process, even if the end result isn’t what you wanted. Good on you for making the right considerations before taking the leap into pet ownership.
My original suggestion stands: can you volunteer at your local shelter? Lots of shelters have great volunteer programs; along with socializing/walking/hanging out with the inmates, you can often use your other skills, e.g., updating their website, taking nice photos of the animals, helping with feeding/cleaning/laundry duty, etc.
And often leads to dumping the dog at a shelter. Where he’s usually back on death row…