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What do I feed my own dogs?
Primarily they eat a raw, homemade diet with lots of supplements. (Making Your Dog Food) I also like to keep a bag of premium kibble around for road trips, training rewards, and when I am too lazy or busy to prepare their raw food.
Basically, any kibble you can buy at Bend Pet Express is a good food. Other pet stores in the Bend area also sell crappy food, do not give out free samples, or are not locally owned.
UPDATE: There have been a plethora of new premium kibbles introduced in the past couple years and I have not tried many of them. Also, the availability of commercially produced raw diets has made improving your dog's diet easy. My new personal favorite is the dehydrated raw diet produced by The Honest Kitchen.
Please learn or continue to read the ingredients labels.
I have my favorite kibbles:
If premium kibble is not in your budget, the best bang for your buck is Nutra Nuggets (green bag with gold stripes) available at Costco or Fred Meyer OR Kirkland Premium, Costco house brand. Some dogs do great on this but it rates as a decent food. Not great, decent.
I do not like Solid Gold formulas for a couple of reasons. Dogs tend to eat their poop more when they're fed Solid Gold, the volume of waste produced is equivalent to cheap crappy food and has the same *gag * smell, and over the long term the dog starts to have bad body odor and excessive dandruff.
I also recommend changing your dog's diet every couple of months. Different manufacturers focus on different supplements and an evolving diet is interesting for your dog and in the long term will balance out any nutritional deficiencies any product inherently contains.
Please note: Some dogs have delicate guts and cannot handle diet changes without getting severe diarrhea, which can be a serious threat to their overall health.
Know what YOUR dog can handle before switching.
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