Tag Archives: dog food

The best food for your dog

The best food for your dog is the one they’ll eat and thrive on.

The last couple of years have seen many new options, both brands and different forms of dog food. It used to be either canned or dry kibble. Now the choices include raw, frozen or freeze-dried, fresh refrigerated, subscription boxes, various custom-blended mixtures, pouches, containers, bags, cans, grain or none, percentage of protein, carnivore or vegetarian, etc.

And the commercials we see touting the various brands and forms are aimed straight at our guilt triggers. Don’t you want to give your dog the “best” food with the “healthiest” ingredients? They aim right at the soft spots.

First things first

When choosing your dog’s food, try to remember that your dog really doesn’t care what it looks like. People “eat first with their eyes” but dogs don’t. Their most important sense when choosing food is the smell. And the smells that attract dogs generally aren’t all that appealing to people. That expensive container that looks like a delicious stew is made to attract your eye – not your dog’s.

Does that mean you should choose the ugliest, stinkiest dog food available? It means that you should buy dog food based on logic, not emotion.

Dog food journey

Personally, we feed our dogs a mixture of home-made and kibble. It was a long and painful process to figure out what was best for us and our dogs. For training, we use stinky treats our dogs adore.

Picture of a Boston Terrier to illustrate best food for your dog

We switched because of Booker (pictured), Fran’s now 10-year-old Boston Terrier. If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that Booker is “special,” not in a good way. One of his issues is a very sensitive gut. For the first couple years he never had a “normal” poop, was incredibly gassy, and seemed uncomfortable.

We tried all kinds of foods for him. And in keeping with the veterinarian’s advice, introduced each option slowly. Nothing seemed to help. From different proteins, grains, “sensitive stomach” choices, canned, dry, consultations with a nutritionist. His tummy just wasn’t happy.

What worked

Finally, a friend of ours whose business was custom-made dog food hit on the right combination of ingredients and format that worked for Booker. The difference was life-changing for all of us. She figured out that Booker is a dog who can’t tolerate raw food, or certain proteins, must have vegetables, and limited grains.

And then she went out of business. That’s when we started making our dog’s food. We didn’t have a choice. If we wanted to use what worked for Booker, we had to make it ourselves.

Luckily, our friend did give us the recipes she used. So now, once every month, we devote a day to shopping, chopping, blending, portioning, and freezing dog food.

The rest of the story

When we started making food, we were also traveling quite a bit. Our dogs always came along on any trips. As insurance, we decided to keep our dogs accustomed to a readily-available commercial dog food. If we got stuck on the road, or something happened with the home-made food, we wanted to be sure our dogs would be okay.

We actually wouldn’t wish our dog food adventures on anyone. Food-making day is messy and stinky. But it works for us and our dogs.

Choose your dog’s food by the results you get. If your dog loves their food, they’re healthy, eyes bright, eager to eat, happy to play, able to sleep comfortably, you’re doing fine.

Enjoyed this post? Click here to sign up for the weekly newsletter and never miss another!

3 Easy Dog Diet Tips

#1: Swap low calories for high

Many dog foods are calorie-dense, especially dry foods that have little or no moisture content. But if you just decrease the amount of food, your dog may notice the change and wonder what the heck is going on. Instead, just replace a portion of the food with low-calorie, dog-safe options.

Chopped vegetables in bowls to illustrate Dog Diet Tip #1: Replace calorie dense food with vegetables — Produce ready to go.

Frozen green beans are a great choice. They provide the satisfying crunch most dogs enjoy, while taking up lots of space for relatively few calories. You can use other vegetables or fruits as well, either frozen or raw. The caution here is to be aware that many fruits and some veggies are higher in calories or sugar. Most dogs love crunching carrots or apples. Our dogs also love celery, but that may be an acquired taste.

If your dog is on a special diet for any medical reason, be sure to okay your substitutions with your veterinarian. It’s also smart to go slow when introducing a new food item. Some dogs may get upset stomachs with foods they’re not used to eating.

#2: Ditch the dog bowl

There’s no particular reason to feed your dog from a bowl. In the last couple of years we’ve seen more and more options. Snuffle mats are becoming popular. As are feeding trays for dogs. And slow-feed bowls. Letting your dog play “hide and seek” with their food slows them down.

Just like people, taking more time to eat allows their system the chance to recognize they’re feeling full. Which may mean your dog will be satisfied with less food. And you’ll avoid the guilty feeling that you’re depriving your dog. Even if there’s fewer pieces, the fun factor increases.

#3: Will work for food

Use their regular food as training treats. You may not have the time or opportunity to do this every meal, but that’s okay. At least one meal a day, have your dog do “stuff” for their food, or at least part of the meal. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated. A good round of “Puppy Pushups” is easy, fun, and fast.

Interestingly, this technique works for dogs who are picky about their food. The same morsels they won’t touch when presented in a bowl become sought-after treats when used as rewards. It may be that hand-feeding makes the difference, but that’s okay.

Some people see hand-feeding as a sign that the dog is spoiled, or manipulative. Instead, look at it as a way to positively interact with your dog and reinforce the bond you have.

Make it fun

Whether your goal is maintaining a healthy weight or losing some, these dog diet tips will help. And may even increase the happiness factor of your dog’s mealtime.

Enjoyed this post? Click here to sign up for the weekly newsletter and never miss another!

Should dogs eat bugs?

Dull is better

It’s generally true that the more colorful the insect, the more toxic. Things like stink bugs taste bad and may make your dog drool or even vomit if they get hold of one, but won’t do any real damage. Unless your dog’s feeling get hurt when you won’t let them kiss you!

Protein source

We don’t know why the dog food companies are searching for even more exotic protein sources. While some dogs have food sensitivities, there are lots of traditional proteins, enough to find one that works for most dogs.

Readily-available dog food base proteins include: beef, chicken, lamb, salmon, whitefish, turkey, pork, rabbit, and venison.

Looking for solutions

It occurred to us that a good alternative protein source for dog food might be some invasive species. Here in the Chicago area, we hear a lot about the Asian Carp that is overtaking the native species of the Mississippi River. These fish are abundant, and unwanted. And while they are edible for humans, we heard that they’re too boney to make good eating. Fish meal sounds like a good solution.

In Lake Michigan, the Zebra Mussel has been making inroads. This invasive species changes the environment of the lake and has had an effect on native species of fish and lake vegetation.

We think it’s a great opportunity for an ambitious entrepreneur to do good and make good products.

Ick factor

We took a very small, very unscientific poll and the overwhelming response was that dog people wouldn’t feed insect-based food to their dogs. Most people just don’t think dogs should eat bugs. The dog food companies’ motivation is unclear. It can’t be easy or cheap to raise and process the billions of bugs that a commercial dog food venture would need. And we’re not sure who their target market would be. We don’t know anyone who’d buy the stuff.

Dogs eat better than we do

4 Replies

It occurred to us, during our once-a-month dog-food-making marathon, that most pet dogs eat better than we do. It’s a tribute to the care and love that most pet owners lavish on their dogs – and we think it’s true. When was the last time your dog ate “junk food” for a meal? We’re not talking about sharing a cheese puff or two. We’re talking about that dog food bowl being full of “empty calories!”

People eat junk food all the time. But they would never give it to their dogs on a regular basis. Why?

It’s easier for the dogs

When you think about it – wouldn’t it be just great if all you had to do was show up for a meal and it was presented to you? No shopping, no preparation, no work, and no bill at the end! It seems like our dogs have it made!

Whether your dog’s food is a high-quality packaged food (check dogfoodadvisor.com to see how your brand rates), or home-made, we’re confident our dogs are getting complete, nutritious food. When was the last time you can honestly say you got all the fruits and veggies the FDA recommends?

So, our dogs eat better. The commercial dog food manufacturers have to meet standards to market their products widely. We may not always admire some of their ingredient choices, but they do provide for dogs’ nutritional needs.

picture of home made dog food in oven for dogs eat better — Four dog food batches ready to bake

And those of us making dog food at home know we’re responsible for the meeting our dogs’ dietary needs and get lots of help – from experts like Judy Morgan, D.V.M., Lew Olson, even social media groups devoted to helping each other out with recipes and techniques. For example: did you know you can save the shells from hard-boiled eggs in the freezer, grind them into powder, and add to your dog’s food as a source of calcium?

Junk food junkies

Of course our dogs, like most, get to share when we have snacks. We’ve never met a dog who didn’t love popcorn (hold the butter!). But we’ve also never met a dog who didn’t love carrots, or frozen green beans. They don’t know it’s healthy food. They just know if you’re giving it to them, it’s got to be good! We only carry treats that are good for dogs – we just don’t tell them that part of it.

During the pandemic, with options restricted and choices limited, many people started preparing their own meals more than ever. And we’re thoroughly sick and tired of it. We think that’s why we’ve seen an explosion of prepared-and-delivered meal companies.

Much as we’d like to hand over the responsibility to somebody else – we’re afraid we just can’t justify it. If we didn’t before, we now know how to put a (human) meal together in very little time.

Planning means dogs eat better

Planning ahead is the hiccup in the system. We know when we’re running low on dog food that it’s time to either go get it, or make it. For ourselves, we can always “grab something.” And that something isn’t always the healthiest choice – it’s what our taste buds dictate that day.

Another major difference – dogs don’t seem to care whether they eat the same thing, every meal, every day. Ours certainly disappear their food in record time. Every time – morning and night, seven days a week. They don’t seem to care that it tastes the same as it did last time. And the same as it will next time.

Dogs eat better, but taste worse

We may be saying it wrong. It’s more accurate that our dogs eat healthier than we do. That’s what responsible dog owners do.

The repetition would get old, fast, for people. It turns out that we have dogs beat as far as tasting goes. According to research, dogs only have about 1700 taste buds. People have about 9,000!

So while our dogs can out-sniff us all day long – we have the advantage in sensing taste. Which, considering the disgusting stuff we’ve seen dogs try to consume, is a very good thing.

Search Products

Browse by Category

Browse by Price