What do you consider a "High Quality " dog food?

[TexasWalker]

Acana regionals are great, they are formulated almost identical so if you're seeing skin issues or other sensitivities it's very easy to change protein sources.
I feed the Ranchlands for most of the year and a few bags of Pacifica through the winter as it helps with dry winter skin.

[russm]

We’ve got a French bulldog and an English bulldog, they can both have skin conditions etc, our French bulldog is allergic to chicken and his fur falls out and he gets scabby pretty much instantly if he gets any sort of chicken in him, we found a pacific fish blend made by first mate in Chilliwack and a salmon/sweet potato made by Canadian naturals, neither dog has had any trouble on those foods and there’s not a bunch of fillers and junk in them.

[knothead]

I have been using Nutro dog food for twenty five years now, over that time I have had nine different dogs. All have had healthy coats and been easy to maintain body weight by adjusting quantity of food as they got older and less active. Started with the puppy chow and moved through to adult food and on to senior food as they aged. From purbred to mutt and all large dogs over 100lbs. and up to 180lbs. I have had zero vet bills relating to digestion or allergies and could not be happier and would recommend it for any dog.

[Frango]

Our German Shepherd gets Costco Salmon and sweet potato he likes it. His coat is as shinny as it can get. No poop issues and is very healthy. Oh and he gets left over Moose. He knows when Moose is on the menu he hoovers.

[kinderdoggin]

Lots of factors to consider. There is a growing amount of good information out there now, but the information on what a dog needs in their diet to thrive on a micronutrient level is NOT completely known yet and research is ongoing.

I would suggest not to get hung up on a single brand or 'flavor'. If you are going to feed a commercial kibble, find several that agree with your dog, and use in rotation. Why? No single food source is likely to be complete and balanced (despite marketing claims- as above, research on this is not complete and there are breed variations!) Feeding the same thing day in and day out is almost certain to leave you dog with tiny nutrient deficiencies (or excesses) that compound over the years. Using a few different brands with slightly different ingredient lists helps reduce the odds of this happening. Think about it- those meal replacement shakes that you can buy at the grocery store are 'complete and balanced' and intended to take the place of a real meal, just like kibble - but we all know you wouldn't just try to live a longterm healthy life on this alone. You need variety in your diet to cover all of the bases and so does your dog.

As an example, it's recently been discovered that Labrador Retrievers are not great at processing extra copper in their diet. Foods that are fine for other breeds may cause excesses in Labs that can be fatal or at very least require expensive ongoing treatment to reverse the copper accumulation. There is obviously a genetic component to this inability to excrete extra copper since it runs in the breed (and a few other breeds like Bedlington Terriers) and some families of dogs may be more prone than others, but the trend that most lab breeders are suggesting now is to stick to foods that do not have excessive amounts of copper. On the other hand, there is new research that shows that Golden Retrievers may require extra taurine in their diet to allow their hearts to function normally (or alternatively, should avoid foods with ingredients that bind the taurine rendering it unusuable to the dog- in Goldens, grain-free diets are thought to potentially cause issues because of how the legumes which replace grains as the starchy part of the recipe will bind up the taurine).

I personally choose to feed my dogs a raw food diet. It's about the same cost as feeding the higher-rated kibbles but I get to control exactly what is or isn't included in their food and dogs, like people, typically do better on foods that are less processed than more so. All of us here who hunt have a bit of an advantage too with being able to feed all parts of the animal that is harvested (or at least anything we don't use for ourselves), as part of a balanced raw food diet or in addition to a quality commercial kibble.

[albravo2]

We were serving Acana for years then a vet friend suggested we look closely at the Costco foods. The Kirkland brands have excellent ingredients. We've been on it for a couple years now without issue. So much cheaper too.

[levind]

i feed my dog the kirkland dog foods i've tried all the kirland dog food and he has done the best on the turkey.

[835]

I think it's important to feed a food that has a meat protein at the top of the ingredient list. .

An old vet I had, when I asked about food told me this.... Dog food is not regulated like people food. There is no governing body saying that the list has to be in order of content.....
Right? wrong? its what he said.....

But I was told by my breeder pretty much exactly what Cedar Cow Girl said ,,, let the dog be your barometer. My Present Dog, Timber is a big black lab, he is very mellow and could get fat in a blink if I let him. I was told to stay away from the high fat content foods that have been mentioned here.... any way... go to Bosleys and find a decent food, talk to them.

[Brez]

My lab/golden cross used to eat Nutro until the ingredients changed a few years ago - too much beet fibre for my liking. I looked at Kirkland and went with that, alternating the two adult formulas and my vet always comments favorably on my dog's condition.

[Redthies]

We always had good luck with Go, mainly the salmon formula, but are in the USA regularly and can’t take it across the border. So we started looking at other brands and tried Acana, Orijen, and Taste of the Wild. The biggest issue is the latest trend of boosting protein numbers by adding legumes. What used to be a fish and oats or fish and sweet potato formula is now fish and chick peas or other legume.

My Weimaraner can’t digest legumes very well, and is up in the middle of the night needing to go outside. We have started making our own food (lamb organs, tongue etc or salmon with greens, oats, sweet potato etc), and the change in the dog is incredible! He is much mellower, sleeps through the night, and seems way happier overall.

Food allergies are far more common in dogs than you would think, so it can be challenging finding the right food. Some of the freeze dried raw foods like NRG are a good choice to help with this as they are very ingredient limited. We use their food for travel days or when we run out of our own food.