This question comes up so often that it’s worth publicly mentioning. And yet, it’s such a personal question. Years ago, I asked my vet to tell me what the best dog food on the market was. Her words of wisdom, “whatever works for your dog that meets the AAFCO Guidelines.” The following opinion is based solely on years of watching the industry transform, reading everything that I can get my hands on, and trying to see what really does work for my dogs (and what they enjoy!).
My principles for my own family’s nutrition are that the foods we eat be as minimally processed as possible, as organic as possible, and with the least amount of fillers as possible with the most amount of variety. This also applies to my dogs. Protein is the first ingredient to choose for your dog and I like to rotate sources. From a protein standpoint, I am always going to be wary of chicken, as it’s a common allergen for dogs and my first Boxer could not have it at all. But, since the two dogs that I have now do fine with it, it gets rotated into the Springtime and Falltime meals. From an Omega standpoint, I tend to keep Wintertime meals fish based and Summertime meals lamb, venison, and beef based. I also try to feed fresh cooked, air dried, and freeze-dried forms as opposed to traditional kibble which is processed at high temperatures that take away the natural nutrients. I will always consciously avoid fillers such as corn, soy, and wheat, by-products, cellulose, and any artificial flavors, colors, and chemical preservatives.
Pawtree: Freeze-Dried Real Food Beef Recipe I’ve been using the Pawtree line for a few years now, my dogs love this as well as the supplements and salmon oil that this brand carries. We get everything auto-shipped monthly.
Raised Right: Human Grade Whole Food Diet This is the only company out there that meets the nutritional guidelines using only real food. It is a cooked line and comes frozen to our door. They are simply incredible, and they created a Puppy line as well!
The Honest Kitchen: Whole Grain Chicken Clusters This company has been around the longest and was the first company to manufacture their food in a processing plant that was also being used to make food for human consumption. The standards between the two industries are incredibly different. My first Boxer was saved by their Dehydrated line of foods that contained minimal allergens.
Sunday’s Food For Dogs: Chicken Recipe This is another airdried product that is also wonderful for using as training rewards. We utilize their subscription service.
I’ve also inconsistently fed Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried dinner patties although they are perfect for training so they are in our rotation as well as The Farmer’s Dog. When I think of training, I don’t think of sweet cookies and treats, I prefer to use nutritionally based options such as everything that Fig & Tyler offer (code OMDOG) and my dog’s own food. Feel free to look up the scientific principle of contrafreeloading. It describes a dog’s work ethic perfectly.
Nutrition plays such an important role in everything, and is always a source of debate. As a new Mom, I never fit in with either mainstream group of Breast or Bottle and kept our struggles quiet. FED IS BEST. My oldest was fed through a g-tube until he was 5 years old. It was his literal lifeline and I had to navigate an entirely unfamiliar world of big pharmacy tube feeds, homemaking his feeds, and exploring options with smaller companies. Our GI doctor wanted to push the large pharmaceutical formula, and I wasn’t in agreement. She just didn’t know otherwise. I found other options, with real nutrition and brought them to her. It truly didn’t take much convincing before I had her on board, and we fought to the state house to get the products covered by insurance. Just a mom making a huge difference, following in the footsteps of the women who created these now multimillion dollar companies because of their own children’s needs. You have to do what works best for you.
Sources of Reference include:
The Dog Food Advisor, The Forever Dog by Rodney Habib & Dr. Karen Shaw Becker (This is a phenomenal book - it’s on our Amazon Reading List).