Black Gold

I worked for a groomer who swore by it for her dogs. I wasn't terribly impressed.

Here are the ingredients of thier Ultimate food.  Not terribly bad, it does have chelated minerals, which is on my preference 'list.'

The second one, the kennel blend, I wouldn't touch.  Bleh.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Poultry Fat Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols (Form Of Vitamin E), Oats, Fish Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Egg Product, Canola Oil, Natural Chicken Flavor, Ground Flaxseed, Brewers Dried Yeast, Monocalcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Inulin, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Methionine, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, L-Carnitine, Vitamin E Supplement, Mannanoligosaccharide, Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source Of Vitamin C), Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source Of Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source Of Vitamin B6), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity), Riboflavin Supplement (Source Of Vitamin B2), Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate.
 

Based on those ingredients, agreed.  Although...the old eyes had a hard time making out the color....

Brewers rice is fragments.  It's much like minute rice, with virtually no nutritional value....literally so danged processed that they've stripped anything good out of it.  It's good that chicken MEAL is the first ingredient, but then it's majorly overwhelmed by grains. There is one heck of a lot of debate about whether or not dogs NEED grains, but my feeling is that if one is going to use grains, then use the WHOLE thing to give the dog the benefit of all parts of the grain...the bran, the germ and the ecosperm, which are supposed to all have beneficial things to offer.

Now, this is a personal opinion only.  I don't trust Diamond.  There have been two big recalls that I know of that they handled poorly and I don't forget that kind of them.  I am trusting the manufacturer with my dogs health and well being, and if I can't trust them to be honest and have excellent QC systems in place, I won't buy the food.  I'm the same way about Merrick.  They aren't "just dogs".  These guys are members of our family and they deserve the best and safest food I can find.  And yes, that's why I also homecook so they have FRESH foods daily as well.

brookcove

They have sponsored Ben Ousely's trial for years and years. The guys in charge are really nice - if you have any questions they are on the ball answering it. I guess I'd probably go for this over Diamond Maintenance - but not Diamond Naturals. The first one, not the second. By the way, I'm PMing you on breeders.

Ok....

On Border's?? EEEP! ...sorry....I'm over my BC-puppy sillies

brookcove

Ha, just a dire warning, not any recommendations (you know that now though). It's a reflex when someone says, "I'm looking at BC breeders on the internet" a knee jerk reaction to say, "Watch out!" because there are so few good ones who have websites. And a BC should never, ever be purchased via the internet.

I know, but I *do* love to look! Never hurt to look! You know I wouldn't buy over the net! Thats just ASKING for a sick/ill-bred pup!

     I know of several beaglers who feed Black Gold and swear it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. BG people are die hard, lol. Problem is, judging by how their dogs look, I'd be hard pressed to feed it. Honestly don't think I've ever seen a Beagle on that brand who didn't have the most diluted pigment and occasionally even dull coats. Some do very well on it, but from my own personal experience, I haven't seen any of them. BG is near impossible to come by in the NY area, so most of the field trial people over here use Purina or Sportmix. Sorry, but I can usually tell which are the out of state dogs on Black Gold because their coats all look the same, with that trademark diluted black saddle. The Purina dogs, OTOH, usually have very rich pigment.
     I think that some breeders have had good litter sizes with BG, but I still wouldn't bother with it unless all my dogs looked fantastic. Personally, for similar ingredients & price, I'd go with Purina, NutriSource, Diamond or the Sportmix/Pro Pac ...