Good kibble?

 I'm not tryin to be rude or anything..but Chicken Soup for the dog lovers soul isn't grain free at all. Innova Evo is grain free.

Hugo is on Taste of the Wile (Pacific Stream formula) and it's one of the more cost-conscious grain free brands.  He's doing great on it!

I feed my boys Chicken Soup for the dog lover's soul also.  I was told Hot Shot was on Diamond before we got him but he transitioned very well.  its a bit more expensive but they like it and we a wonderful small local supplier that carries it.  I used to be a "WalMart" buyer, I know....you guys have taught me better now, lol!

I wouldn't be too hard on your dad - there are a LOT of people who have no clue what's good and what's not when it comes to dog food - and the marketing folks at the worst companies are VERY creative in getting us to buy their brands!  Anyway, the best place I've found to learn the basics about dog food is dogfoodproject.com.  There's a "short guide to choosing better products" that might help in convincing your dad to buy better food - and help him choose what kind! Personally, I buy California Natural or Taste of the Wild. Neither is cheap, but they're not too terribly expensive either, especially if you buy a large bag. Wellness is great food but too expensive for what you get.  The grain-free high protein foods are great, but not necessarily needed for all dogs, especially if the dogs are sedate and have no problems with allergies.

If someone can't get behind a good food or can't afford it, if there's a Costco nearby, their Kirkland brands are decent and inexpensive.  To me, Beneful is the absolute bottom of the bunch. Oh, and the poorer quality the food is, the more poop there is, so that's another small plus for buying good food!  It's funny, I'm a petsitter, and I can almost guess whether the dogs I take care of are eating good or bad food by the size of their poop!  Oh well, back to the question of what's good kibble: I say something with 25-30% "named" protein sources, low or no grain, no fillers, plus for one of my dogs, no yeast, grain or probiotics (lactobacillus, etc.) because of allergies.  

Me again...lol!  Went to our local animal suppy yesterday to get food.  I did go ahead and buy the Chicken Soup for Dog lovers that the boys are currently eating but I have been trying to keep up with all the opinions on other types of food.   Rocky has been scratching alot, no fleas and with his double coat its hard to get to the skin to check for dryness or rash.  I decided to try the

MalOwner

Taste of the Wile (Pacific Stream formula

I just bought a small bag.  The boys knew I had something new last night.  They were very excited, I gave them a few bites out of the bag and mixed a little in their evening meal.  I will just add some with their meals for the next few days and see how they do.  They kept sniffing the bag while I was preparing their dinner and they ate all of their dinner.   Not that they ever leave any food,lol.  I could tell they knew it was different and they had wagging tails, lol, now we will see if it help their skin which is mainly what I am hoping for.

Hi shadowsgin. That's funny!  Yesterday I bought a small bag of TOTW (except the bison/buf, not fish) and mixed a fourth bowl of it with Allie's food.  She's not allergic to grain as far as I know, but she's been getting Healthwise, which has lamb and chicken, and started to scratch/lick more than usual on that, so I decided to try TOTW.  My other dog does not seem to do well on any kibble, especially those with lactobacillis or other probiotics, so I keep him on Cal Nat canned.  While awfully expensive, it has helped with his allergies.  Anyway, as your guys were getting excited about the new TOTW las night, Allie was getting some of HER new TOTW.  She's not a picky eater, so I didn't expect her to like or not like it - and of course she ate it right up.  I decided to give it a try instead of the HW lamb/chicken/and I think turkey because I was afraid Allie was scratching in reaction to the chicken - or maybe the grain.  While not cheap, TOTW isn't TOO terribly expensive, especially given that it's grain free. I forget now if it has chicken meal in there or not, but if so, I'm thinking it will be so minimal compared to the bison and buffalo that it will probably be oik for Allie.

That's pretty funny!  When I was telling hubby about the new food and the ingrediants he laughed and said "That sounds really good!  Maybe I should try it.!  LOL, I am thinking mmmm  that might "save" some money and help him loose weight!!!  Ha!

 Just before the dog food recall DH came home with TWO 40 pound bags of Purina lamb/rice OTH!?! Then they started with the flaky skin, lost the shine to their coats, and that bright shine in their eyes. That’s about the same time I started reading up on nutrition here and found out about the dog food project… anyhoo we have gone thru TOTW (pups didn’t like it), Timberwolf (pups gained too much weight) ended up on Canidae… they were doing great until they changed the formula and then we had a major poop problem. We just started AvoDerm and so far so good. Last week I finally got thru to DH that cheap grocery store food is NOT what we should be feeding, he still busts my chops and calls the food ‘designer’ dog food.

Thanks guys...

A new Tractor supply just opened near me and they have Taste of the Wild. It looked pretty good to me, is it better than Wellness or Pinnacle?

 It's a grain free, so if the dog may have issues with grain, then yes. The fish flavor is avg protein/fat, and the other flavors are high protein. It's a Diamond brand. I don't use it, because Emma would tolerate (in theory) only the fish flavor, and I don't feel comfortable feeding smoked fish on an every day basis.

jennie_c_d

 It's a grain free, so if the dog may have issues with grain, then yes. The fish flavor is avg protein/fat, and the other flavors are high protein. It's a Diamond brand. I don't use it, because Emma would tolerate (in theory) only the fish flavor, and I don't feel comfortable feeding smoked fish on an every day basis.

Why wouldnt you feed the smoked fish type on a daily basis? Just curious... Jack really likes the fish flavors. He perfers the fish over chicken or beef, and he seems to perfer Pinnacle over any of the Wellness (hes a picky eater lol) Im worried he might be getting to much fish, because my dad just got him some fish oil supplements (jack has really dry skin, i told him salmon oil might help) and he is halfway through a bag of Pinnacle fish (i think its trout and Potato?)

I just switch my pup from Purina Puppy Chow (when I got him he was getting Ol' Roy from Walmart so I figured at least Purina Puppy chow was better than what he had been getting).  He is now getting Blue Buffalo chicken and sweet potato.  I decided to switch him because he was having to get quite a bit of the Purina to keep him from being hungry all the time, and his poops were HUGE piles. :-) Plus he was getting fat.  I started him on the Blue Buffalo about a month ago and his poops are smaller and he has slimmed down - still chubby but we're working on that!   I have no complaints about the BB - it seems to be priced comparable to the Cal. Natural, Innova, Taste of the Wild, etc.

 I'm just wary of smoked things. They aren't especially great for us to eat, all the time. The smoke from the wood that makes it taste so good contains carcinogins.