**DOG FOOD - The Owners Tell All**

I am thrilled with Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice.  My dog was adopted and had food allergies at the rescue home.  She loves Natural Balance and does great on it..   [linkhttp://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/allergy/home.html]http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/allergy/home.html[/link] 

When we got Jezebelle at @ 9 weeks, she was being fed Iams. My husband and I both wanted a food where meat was the first ingredients, so I went to researching. We live in a rural area, so not a lot of choice and having food shipped wasn't an option.

We switched to Eukanaba Puppy small bites since it was marginally better than Iams while I continued researching, and while she did better on it than the Iams, her coat still wasn't great, and for a small dog (3 lbs at the time), she pooped huge piles on both.

Tried a sample of Wysong - she turned her nose up at it and wouldn't even eat it! LOL

Next: we found a local supplier of Chicken Soup. Horrible response for her. Her coat quality decreased, it got dull and greasy, and she didn't care for it. I had to bribe her into eating so much back then that I now have a semi-picky eater. Through all three of these, I was afraid that we were looking at alopecia since it shows up in poor-bred MinPins. Her head, especially around her ears, and her chest/legs/underbelly was so thin and hardly covered at all.

Then we found Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance. OH MAN the difference in just a short while!! Her coat filled in all over, no thin spots(!), and it is nice and thick and shiny. She loves the food. I wonder if it was the food or just that point in her maturation, but she filled out and gained weight and actually looked like a 'dog' instead of just a 'd'. hehe She was so small!  She gets comments all the time on how great she looks, and the vet was even impressed!  Her stools are nice and small and firm, so we are happy all the way around.

When we got Keela, she was on Pro Plan. Lets just say she was smelly and greasy, and her poops were small but she constantly looked constipated.  Instead of adding small amounts of the new food, I added more of the NB so we could get her off of the other faster.  Within a week of her being home, her coat was softer and not greasy, and best of all, she didn't smell.  She also had a very thick fat pocket on her chest. At least I would call it fat, but within a month, that is gone and she is nice and lean and looks very good.  Her poops are much more uniform and she doesn't look 'constipated' anymore.

They also get cottage cheese with their morning meal, and occasional additives of NB canned at dinner. Their treats are now made from NB canned, and they get occasional treats of the NB rolls. I find they were good for tempting them to eat when we had a stomach virus run through the house. Thank God for that and canned pumpkin.

I also wanted to add my cat, even though this is for dogs, but it shows how good a food switch can be. Kanga has always been on Science Diet Hairball (she is now 11).  She has pancreatitis (since she was 2), and the few times I have given her something different she got sick - so while she wasn't great, change was very bad for her. But, SD changed their formula and she was throwing up almost constantly. So I switched her to DVP NB Reduced Calorie dry cat food.  She quit throwing up, her coat which has always been oily and scraggly turned soft and healthy looking. It quit coming out in clumps, and the shedding has drastically reduced. She has so much more energy. She has been giving Keela what for, and that is totally unlike her. Her coat change was noticable within a week, her energy levels within two. Her poops have decreased and are smaller, though maybe a bit smellier, but hey I can live with that compared to all the benefits. Her problems with hairballs has almost disappeared; and her frequent bouts of vomitting has reduced 90%.

Purina Puppy Chow - made tear stains on face
Eukanuba - made her go bald in 8x8" patches on hunches, yeast in tail
Nutro ?  - grew her hair back, yeast in tail
California Natural chicken- yeasty ears
Solid Gold Fish & Oatmeal - cleared the yeast, but she got sick of it after few   months
Innova chicken - yeasty ears
Natures Variety (all) Raw - LOVED it, normal stools, normal weight
Bravo Rabbit Raw - Loved it  "  "
Steves Real Meat (all)Raw - loved  "  "
Turkey, Hamburger, buffalo  Raw - loved  "  "
 
Puppy
 
Canidae all stages kibble - too hard on baby teeth
Canidae canned - loved (2 TBLS) per meal, looser stools
Innova Puppy - loves, normal stools, nice coat
EVO canned - LOVES IT LIKE CRAZY., looser stools
 
 
 

What a great thread for those who need a good reference! []

**Keep in mind throughout these foods I've tried, he has been on 1 Derm Cap (fish oil, vitamin E, seed oils--for miniature dogs) a day, which keeps his coat looking good

Dry:

Science Diet Puppy Small Bites:  What he was eating when I got him....nothing remarkable...he liked the taste, stools were fine, coat looked good (I just wanted to change)
Solid Gold Puppy (lamb): Wouldn't eat it to save his life....went 2 days w/o eating anything, only ate a bite on third day when I assume he was border-line starved
Wellness Puppy: Complete disaster....LOVED the taste....horrible diarrhea despite gradual transition...had to get SubQ fluids from vet due to severe dehydration...
Chicken Soup Puppy: Didn't like the taste--would barely eat....good stools, good coat
Innova Puppy: (see Solid Gold remarks above--identical)
Innova EVO: Liked the taste OK, still didn't eat very much (barely ate 1/4 cup a day).  Was really constipated and always strained to use the b-room.
Timberwolf Organics Wild and Natural: Seemed to like it at first...after about a month he wouldn't eat it anymore and developed soft, runny stools (also increase in frequency of stools--3-4 times/day) ...coat was good, so was energy level.
Royal Canin Special 30 mini: Loved it, ate really well for a good while but appetite declined after that....stools were PERFECT and coat was good
Bil-Jac Select: LOVES the taste, stools are great, coat is good.
Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Apples: Likes the taste (not as much as some others)....stools are good so far **Right now he is eating a mixture of this and Bil-Jac and doing great

Samples (that he would NOT eat):

Canidae ALS & Chicken and Rice
Natural Balance
California Natural
Solid Gold BATM & Wee Bit
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct & Chicken and Rice

Canned foods:

EVO regular- Liked OK...couldn't get him to eat more than 1/4 can.....made him a little gassy
EVO 95% varieties- " "
Wellness Puppy- Liked more than EVO but gave bad gas
Evangers 100% varieties- Liked also....cans were inconsistent in appearance of the food and the cans were really small (not very efficient for everyday feeding)
Nutro NC pouches- LOVES (particularly the "lamb stew")....great stools and no gas **Currently getting 1/2 pouch of this per day

When my 10 year old was a pup. we tried to feed her Eukanuba.  She wouldn't touch it. We tried other foods after that but I don't remember what they were.  WE then went to Nature's Recipe, she didn't so well on that because she developed allergies.  I then switched her to Solid Gold and she was on that for many years. She needed to loose weight and I was told that Solid Gold was good for weight and allergies, but she gained weight on it.  I then went to Nature's Variety, Eagle Pack, and Pinnacle.  Nothing would get the weight off from her.  I put her on Wellness Weight Management and she dropped 12 lbs.  I had her on that for about 1 1/2 years.  But my younger dog doesn't seem to care for Wellness.  we Just switched to Natural Balance weight managment and they are doing very well on it. I give my dogs supplements like Omega acids, antioxidents, and Glucasamine/Chondroiton\MSM so the food never messes with their coat. 

I feed variety..lots of it.

I have four dogs and two cats. Darby is a 14 year old Poodle who has had health issues in the past which led me to learning about dog nutrition in
the first place..and later the job I currently have working in a small holistically minded pet supply shop. Dooley is an Aussie Lab X, Witt is a Catahoula X, and Annie is an Aussie X.

They get raw for about 90% of their diet and the rest in kibble and sometimes canned. Darby only gets raw because his health issues return if I feed him kibble.

Raw foods I Feed the most of:

Columbia River Naturals- comes in 2 pound chubs, is generally a larger grind that I like alot, has a huge range of different proteins and is the most economical of the prepared raw foods I buy. I use this the most.

Northwest Naturals- I use the one pound bars and always keep some of these in my freezer. They are flat and defrost very quickly in a little water in the sink..great for when you forgot to take something out. They have Beef, Bison, Chicken, Turkey, Chicken and Salmon. It also comes in nuggets. The dogs love it ad it's super easy to feed.

Natural Balance- I don't use this very often, but on occasion..good food, easy to use.

Natures Variety- I started out using this because it felt very safe..it was all done for me, bone was ground and was easy to handle safely. I still feed this to Darby and the cats frequently. They love the rabbit!

Primal- LOVE this company and their product, lots of options and choices. The fruits and veggies are organic, the meats are free range, steroid and antibiotic free. They have raw specifically for cats and dogs, comes in
patties, nuggets, chubs, grinds or mixes, and they offer chicken backs, necks, turkey necks. They have a frequent buyer program and put samples out. It is more spendy than others..but you pay for what you get with this product.

Also use Happy Pet to make my own, Europa on occasion.

Raw Advantage- I think it's a great company but my cats would never eat it and the dogs, although they ate it, it definately wasn't thier favorite. I think it had to do with the type of vegetables mixed in.

BARF: Dogs wouldn't eat it.
Steve's: Dogs wouldn't eat it.

Kibbles: I have tried ALOT and I always bring something different home.
I would not keep my dogs on any one kibble if I were only feeding kibble.

Innova: Dogs like it, is a little rich for one of my dogs.

Evo: dogs eat it up like there isn't going to be a tomorrow...for some odd reason the dog who gets slight gastric upset on the regular Innova..doesn't on Evo. Cats are equally crazy about Evo.

Wellness: Dogs will eat it, but clearly don't like it much. Always have large stools that are loose. Gassy!

California Naturals: Dogs really like this food and definately prefer the Herring and Sweet Potato formula.

Fromm: Crazy about all formulas, prefer the duck and salmon formulas. Seems to be highly palatable.

FirstMate: Ultra Premium Fish and potato..like it quite a bit..the lamb formula they won't touch.

Canine Caviar: A good choice for when gastric upsets occur...they will eat it but are not crazy in love with it.

Natural Balance: They love the Duck, Venison and Ultra but will not eat the Fish. The cats love the Ultra but won't eat the green pea and venison.

Evangers: Nuts for the Pheasant and Brown Rice and they love the canned varietys this company offers. The cats love the all meat canned but won't eat the cat canned varieties.

TimberWolf Organics: Really palatable, dogs love the Ocean Blue, Bison and Elk formulas. Two of the dogs like the Lamb and Apple the other two won't eat it readily. Not crazy about the Wild and Natural but will eat it when they get hungry. Generally won't eat the Black Forrest??? The SW Chicken and Herb always causes gastric upset and GAS in all four dogs. We quit carrying it at the store I work at for this reason..too many customers had the same issue. The cats love the Serrenghetti.

Canidae- Dogs will eat it readily, I used this on a constant basis before getting into the raw and the dogs did well on it for about 6 months then we started having loose stools and throwing up with both Dooley and Witt. Stopped using it for a while and then brought it back in on a rotation and they did fine with it. The cats love the felidae.

Natures Variety- Dogs like all the varieties alot..beef is probably one of their faves. The new Salmon was a BIG hit. They really liked the Raw Instincts but it caused major gas. A couple  customers experienced the same thing but after feeding it for a while that stopped. The cats really like his food as well..especially the raw insticts. I don't care for how the raw instincts is crumbly, probably because the tapioca doesn't hold well..but the cats love it and I could live with the crumbly mess.

Merrick: dogs would not even touch the kibble but liked the canned. we no longer sell the kibble because that was the general result from all customers that bought it for their dogs. It was short lived in our store. The canned however..sells really well.

Ziwi Peak: Dogs of course love it..but it is way to expensive to feed even with me getting it at cost!

Blue Buffalo: Dogs liked it quite a bit, but we don't sell it where I work so it's not a regular part of their rotation.

Precise: I fed this a long time ago, dogs liked it..I didn't care for the ingredient list after doing some learning. Years later I won tons of it at a flyball tournament and the ingredient list was different. I don't remember the exact formula..just that it was chicken and the bag was pretty purple ad yellow flowers. I gave most of it away to a shelter, a bit to my neighbor in hopes that he would start feeding a better food (no luck=()..and I kept one bag. The dogs liked it.

I have fed SD and would never do it again...the upside of me feeding it though was that it caused me to take a hard look at dog nutrition and I've learned alot. I have a job I love because of it!
I am not set on one way of doing anything, try to be open to learning new things and love to hear what others are doing, but I have a few rules that I follow...quality, variety, I try to keep the base of their diet fresh, whole, natural foods and I try to provide what they need with that rather than supplements. I do use supplements, but I don't have a set thing I follow. I give them as I see they may be needed. I do feed raw bones on a regular basis, but never unless I am there and there are some bones I don't feed because they make me nervous. Everyone has their comfort zone =)

When we first got Dingo, he ate Purina Little Bites, he was extremely hyper. Sammy entered and we made the switch to Beneful Weight Management. Neither one of them lost weight and had huge, soft poops. Tootsie, came and she was fed Beneful with the other two, but it was the Original flavor. All three were hyper and I felt like I was buying dog food constantly. Found i-dog and made the switch to EP Holistic Lamb. They enjoyed it, but weren't enthusiastic. Switched to the EP Holistic Fish and all three cleaned their bowls within minutes! Great stools, glossy coats, normal energy and Dingos arthritis has greatly improved. We love EP!!!

I find it interesting and a little suspicious that so many people have had problems and made dog food switches. Should it really be so hard to feed your dog something they like and do well on? I mean, dogs like to eat rancid meat and unrecognisable carcasses. It seems bizarre to me that an animal that has a cast iron stomach my nature should be having problems with what's supposed to be good for dogs. The things people are describing, it sounds as though almost everyone's dog has encountered dog food that they either don't like or have health problems with.

I'm beginning to think it's unfair to our dogs to feed them the same thing every day. My uncle grew up in an impoverished family. For a period, they had no money and they ate Weet-Bix for breakfast lunch and tea. Weet-Bix are a bland, whole wheat breakfast cereal made into biscuits. Most people will eat them and like them, and they're very good for you, but after eating them exclusively for a while, my uncle now can't stand the sight of them. He liked them before, but too much of a good thing can make you feel pretty sick. My point is, what makes us think our dogs don't get sick of the same, cereal-based meal every day? Even when you get different flavours, it's still more or less the same product. I know my dog got sick of it. Some days she just wouldn't finish her meal. And she was getting raw bones once a week as well at that time. I would encourage people to give their dogs a real variety, not just in flavour, but in texture. Whether you feed raw, canned or kibble, I think it's a good idea to supplement different things into the diet.

Sounds as though TimberWolf is a pretty good kibble option, though. I don't think we have that over here. Would someone be able to tell me what the ingredients are? I'd love to know what's in it.

Here is the timberwolf organics website.
http://www.timberwolforganics.com/Pet_Foods_s/12.htm

There are multiple formulas so it is easier just to give you the link to them so you can view for yourself.
They have:
Dakota Bison, Wilderness Elk, Ocean blue (grain free), Wild and Natural ( grain free and the highest in protein of all the formulas), Black Forest (lowest in protein), Lamb and Apples, and Southwest Chicken and Herbs.   They also have a  formula for cats, salmon oils and soon will have canned formulas.

 It can be difficult even in the states to find this food. Many of us order through their website.  It doesn't appear though that on their website they offer shipping to Australia, but may be worth your time to contact or e-mial them and see if they ship out of the country.

Science Diet, Eukanuba, Purina One---all got the same response of not wanting to eat it, vomiting several times a week, and having ear infections.

Nutro--hated the taste and threw up a lot.

Wellness--loved the taste, but got dirty teeth. Also was pretty itchy.

Drs. Foster and Smith kibble--refused to eat it.

California Natural--really soft stools and didn't like the taste.Didn't help the itchies like I thought it would.

Innova--good stools, liked the taste, but got sick of it after a while. Also, she seemed to itch more.

Blue Buffalo--ingredients looked awesome, but she wouldn't eat it.

Natural Balance--she liked the venison one, but refused to eat the duck. I didn't keep her on it very long because it seemed to "plain" and it smelled really bad. Also didn't help her itchiness (see a pattern yet? lol)

Pinnacle--Only complain is I couldn't get her to have firm stools--other than that it was fine.

Nature's Variety---itched like crazy--I think she was allergic to one or more of the many ingredients. But this food seems awesome to anyone whose dog doesn't have allergies.

Royal Canin formulas--she loved these!! One of the few kibbles she would eat plain. Perfect stools too.

Right now she is eating Royal Canin Skin Support 21. She likes the taste okay, has good stools, doesn't throw up, etc. I;ll have to wait a bit longer to see the effect on her allergies.

Pinnacle--Only complain is I couldn't get her to have firm stools--other than that it was fine

Is it possible that Jetta's allergic to grains? You said she was fine on the Pinnacle except for her stools and Pinnacle is grain free. It looks like everything else you fed her had grains.

I'm going to do this by Joey's first food (that I know of) to his most current fed food.

Kibbles N' Bits for "puppies," This was Joey's diet before I rescued him.  It was this or bread depending on how lazy his owner before me was at the time.
Pro's: very tasty, as it is loaded with sugar.  This is probably one of the reasons Joey used to be fussy.
Cons: He had horrible, horrible ear infections.  Made him, obviously very hard to house train.

Nutro Max Puppy:  This is what I bought him when I started taking over for his previous owner.
Pro's: Much better than the Kibbles and Bits.  The ear infections got better.  Potty training became a little easier. Very economical
[color="#cc0000"]Cons: Had a hard time getting him to eat it. And the ear infections, which I later discovered were related to wheat allergies, didn't completly clear up.  When my mother had him, she cheaped out from the next mentioned  food and bought another bag of Nutro Max and his ears flared up again.

[color="#000000"]Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice:
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: The ear infections completely went away.
[color="#cc0000"]Cons: His pooh was really grainy, powdery looking. Joey still wasn't that thrilled with his food.

[color="#000000"]Sensible Choice Lamb and Rice and Chicken and Rice:
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: His pooh was much firmer.  He went pooh alot less on this food compared to the Nutro Nat. Lamb and Rice Adult.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: He really didn't like this food.   He  wouldn't touch the Lamb and Rice (2 days went by without him eating a morsel of it) and would sniff and come back later to the Chicken and Rice formula.

[color="#000000"]Sensible Choice Natural Blend:
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Impressive ingredients. Liked this better than the original Sensible Choice.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Very constipated on this food.  I ended up giving the bag to a friend.  Joey still wasn't that thrilled with the taste of this food.
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Royal Canin Mini Adult:
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey really, really liked this food. No constipation or greasy stools (probably because of the corn.)
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Wasn't that impressed with the ingredients.  Joey would eat those little kibbles so fast he'd always act like I didn't give him enough and would sometimes choke on the pieces.

[color="#000000"]Nutro Ultra:
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey also really liked this food.  I was fairly impressed with the ingredients.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Compared to the Royal Canin Mini Adult, Joey poohed alot more on this food.  His poohs were also grainy and almost powdery on this food too.  I lived in an apartment, so I had to walk him to take him out.  Compared to the RC Mini, this was a big inconvienience, not only for my time walking him, but the extra time it took to pick up his pooh.

[color="#000000"]Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and then Duck
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey really liked this food too, the chicken more so than the Duck, but he still ate the duck.  Brindle coloring came out on his coat more.  I was very impressed with the ingredients.  I could get coupons off the internet for this and I fed alot less of it than I did with the Nutro and Sensible Choice formulas.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Joey had greasy squirty stools on these foods.[color="#000000"][color="#0000cc"][color="#cc0000"]

[color="#000000"]Canidae
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Impressive ingredients
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Joey would hardly touch it. Made him constipated again.  Ended up giving this to a friend too.

[color="#000000"]Chicken Soup
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey really like it.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: I had to feed almost double of this compared to EP Holistic foods.  Joey pooed alot more on this and still had greasy squirty stools.
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Nature's Variety Chicken, Venison, and Beef Dry[color="#0000cc"]
Pro's: Very, very impressive ingredients.  Joey liked all three of these formulas.  When I fed the Venison and Beef formula, I discovered that Joey's stool problems may be related to poultry, as he did great on the Venison and Beef formulas.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: The food used to be coated in freeze dried meat and in order to maintain the benefits of the freeze dried meat, the food needed to be stored very carefully, which was kind of a hassel.  Also the food got more and more expensive.  And they screwed my company over.  And then changed their ingredients without warning the consumer.

[color="#000000"]Merrick Wilderness Blend
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey liked it and digested it well.  Impressive ingredients.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: They had some quality manufacturing problems, so I stopped feeding it for a while, but I fed it again with good results.

[color="#000000"]Eagle Pack Holistic Lamb: I was hesitant about trying Lamb because it is not know for its tastyness and Joey tends to be fussy.
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Joey liked it and digested it well.  Nice firm stools.  Fed less than on most foods.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: None.

[color="#000000"]Pinnacle Trout and Oatmeal
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: Impressive ingredients?
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Joey didn't really like it.  He poohed more than ever on this food.  He couldn't even make it through the night.  He broke out in some wierd rash.
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Solid Gold Wee Bits[color="#0000cc"]
[/color][color="#0000cc"]Pros: Joey liked it and digested it well.  Nice firm stools on this too.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: I had to feed more of this compared to EP Holistic and he lost a little weight on this food too.  I think the protien and the fat percentage are too far apart and cause weight loss.

[color="#000000"]Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato
[color="#0000cc"]Pro's: This was one of Joey's Favorites.  Yumm, Yummy.  Very impressive ingredients.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Not at first, but after a while Joey's stool became very loose and very orange on this food.

[color="#000000"]Timberwolf both Bison and Elk[color="#0000cc"]
Pro's: Super impressive ingredients.  Joey liked it and digested it well.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: Caused tarter to build excessively on his teeth. I had to brush his teeth alot.

[color="#000000"]Nature's Logic Lamb and Venison[color="#0000cc"]
Pro's: Joey loves it.  His muscle mass came back from a recent loss of it this summer. I noticed his eyes look clearer on this food.  I like that it doesn't contain synthetic vitamins and it has 36% protein.  Joey's stools are firm and better than they've ever looked.
[color="#cc0000"]Con's: It's hard to find and comes in really weak packaging.

[color="#000000"]Conclusion: I'm really happy with the Nature's Logic both the Lamb and Venison formulas.  Occasionally I will throw in a bag of EP Lamb for variety.

I also feed Nature's Variety Lamb, Venison, or Rabbit medallions about every other day as his lunch.

I also feed Nature's Logic Lamb cans every other day as his lunch.

I'm on a no synthestic vitamin kick right now.
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Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice:
-Palatability - Wesley will eat ANYTHING
-Energy level - Very High
-Stool analysis - Fair (good texture for the most part, but too big and too often)
-Effect on skin and coat - Nice and shiny coat
-Overall appearance of your dog - Good, except a little much eye mucus

Timberwolf Organics (rotate between all except Black Forrest and SW Chicken):
-Palatability - Wesley will still eat ANYTHING
-Energy level - Very High
-Stool analysis - was smaller and less frequent for a while, but has increased recently to twice (sometimes even three times) a day, when we were down to once, maybe sometimes twice a day...
-Effect on skin and coat - Fantastic - everyone comments on how gorgeous his coat is
-Overall appearance of your dog - Very good - eye mucus has diminished, although not disappeared - not sure if a different food would make a difference here
-Any other assessments of this food you would like to address - I really like the fact that I can rotate Wesley through the different varieties without having to switch him gradually...  I think the variety is good for him - but he is not a dog with allergies or anything...
 
I am interested in incorporating some raw and some homecooked and am in the process of doing research on it...

Well, we're right smack in the middle of another move, so I wish I could find my little notebooks that keeps just this sort of info but here are a few right off the top of my head:
 
KIBBLE
Purina: Liked the taste.  Goopy poop, itchy itchy, my minpin got hives
 
Iams:  Liked the taste. Goopy stinky poop, more hives for my minpin
 
Nutro:  Some of my dogs liked the taste, others turned up their noses at it. No more hives but the dogs had a greasy smell to them. Poop mushy but formed
 
Bil-Jac:  Previously we have had good results with this, with good coat, they LOVE the taste, poops were bigger but formed.  Recently had terrible results w/the food including majorly increased shedding on the minpin, and sparse coats on the bichons, one bichon got yeast infections on her feet and in her ears. Another got a gall bladder attack!  Won't feed this one again.
 
TWO Lamb/Apples and Southwest Chicken: Wow, did the dogs go wild for this stuff!  They loved it and would eat a ton more than they were supposed to have if I would only let them (they wish!).  Their coats were outstanding.  I fed this food though, when it first came out and were switching around w/the mills.  Had some poop issues. One bag- omg, the stench was terrible from the poop.   I fancy trying this food again some day, perhaps the buffalo one, but I also experienced bad customer service, so I'm a bit shy when it comes to trying this one again.
 
Nature's Variety, Lamb/Rice, Beef/Barley:  They liked the taste but I couldn't stand the weird smell the kibble had. Good coat, stool.
 
PetGuard Lifespan:  Food I am currently feeding. They love the taste. They have great coat- my minpin just glistens!  I generally have no complaints w/this food- although one bichon has an ear infection and another is itchin like the devil but the weed, tree and grass pollen is really high and our humans are itchin and taking their claritin!  
 
Chicken Soup:  I think they did pretty well on this> Gobie ate a bag of senior and I swear he acted much bouncier while he was on it (has gluc/chond). The others ate the adult and did well, poops were formed and of minimal size. Have not tried it again since they changed the formula.
 
Eukanuba small breed puppy:  I raised all my puppies on this food, Stools were a bit big and stinky but they did great otherwise.
 
Wellness:  DISASTER!! They loved the taste (when it was baked) but the pH the food produces gave several of my dogs raging UTI's, even when I tried it twice. POop was another issue.  Cow patties several times a day. It was ridiculous! Won't touch this food ever again.
 
Innova:  Dogs liked the taste ok- were not wild about it but ate it. Coat looked good. Poop was either teeny tiny and very hard (which caused anal gland issues) or was runny and goopy (and yes, I was careful to not overfeed).  Probably won't feed this food again, although my sister feeds her westie this and swears by it.
 
California Natural:  Dogs liked the taste ok, poops ok. Coat went all to heck though, it was sparse and not at all shiny or thick. 
 
RAW
Volhard ND/NDF:  Dogs did well, liked the taste of the PM meal but refused the AM meal frequently.  Stools were great! Low odor, very small. Coat was wonderful as well
 
Sojos:  Dogs LOVED the taste, I rotated meats and veggies and fruits, added yogurt/kefir often.  Coats good, stools were great, I didn't pick up poop, I just had to stomp it and it would crumble into dirt basically.
 
Barf style (The ultimate diet:  wings, veggies, supp's)  I did not have good luck wiht this diet, it resulted in a lot of diarrhea in crates overnight. Otherwise dogs looked good, had great teeth!

CANNED
 
I've tried Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro, Chicken soup, Innova, California Natural, PetGuard, etc. I feed about 1T per meal, so not a whole lot and I can't say I noticed a huge difference among them in regards to coat. If I feed too much of any canned the poops are soft though.  They love the taste of any canned foods.
 
That's all I can think of for now.

Tiffani

Dr. Billinghurst wrote the book "Give Your Dog a Bone" and many consider him the father of the BARF Diet. Which stands for "Biologically Appropriate Raw Food" or "Bones and Raw Food Diet". In layman's term, the dog's diet would consist mainly of natural raw foods which contains a lot of bones. Chicken or fish carcasses or parts (chicken necks and backs are popular) That way the dog would not intake any fillers such as corn, preservatives, and chemicals.

I would definitely encourage you to read his book. However the reading strongly reminds me of the book "Fast Food Nation" where there is a lot of good information mixed in with some illogical arguments. For example, in the very first chapter, Dr Billinghurst gives a generalized argument as to why dogs need natural food and then ends the argument with a percentage of how much natural food the dog needs. No where in the argument does it support those numbers, let alone mention any numbers. In conclusion, I would say that even with the illogical arguments in the book, it is still worth a place on my shelf since it contains a lot of good factorial information.