This article deals with basic information and detailed advice on selecting the best dog food for your best friend. We sincerely hope the following will be a great aid to your insight as to the right dog food for your dog.

As a dog owner, you should always be on your toes and seeking the best information, and advice on how to determine what is the best and healthiest diet for your best friend.

You should not only be concerned about your pet's health, but, it is your duty to make sure what you are feeding him or her. You need to know the food, what's in it, what are the ingredients and are they nutritional and healthy or will they harm your pet and shorten his life span.

There is a lot more that goes into your dog's well being. Good teeth, shiny coat, clear and bright eyes, lean body free of fat, good digestive system and lots of energy. If this is what you seek for your best friend, then you must begin with what he or she eats. To do this properly, you need to understand terms that are used in the ingredients on the bag of food.

If it says "all natural", does that mean it is a good ingredient? Or if it says "high in protein", is this a good thing. The answer is no. The answers to many, many more such questions, can be answered by viewing AAFCO Definitions of Dog Food Ingredients which is free and available on my site. This will explain the misguided and confusing terms used in the dog food industry.

Are there ingredients you should definitely avoid feeding your best friend? You bet there are, and many, many more than you can imagine. There are many harmful and even fatal ingredients that need to be avoided at all costs. This is what I will show you how to do, so, you can proceed with confidence as to what is healthy, and what is very dangerous and even deadly for you dog.

What is the best dog food? How do you know, with every manufacturer all claiming to produce the "best dog food" on the market? Kind of confusing isn't it? Maybe, it's the brands with the biggest budgets that can advertise, market and promote their product. You guessed it, this does not mean it is the best dog food. You could go crazy, researching, reading and the like from all of the large budget manufacturer's, that are yielding huge profits from inferior and very low grade dog food. Why, it is the ingredients being used.

Don't fall into the old marketing scheme that dogs should only eat dog food. Not true at all. In fact, they do their best to confuse and misdirect the consumer. The truth is, you have a host of different scenarios you can avail yourself of. Such as a commercial natural ingredient, organic, raw, frozen, freeze dried or a combination of these foods. It doesn't matter whether you purchase pre packaged foods that are specially formulated for a dogs nutritional needs, or if you produce your own meals using the proper ingredients. This I will also teach you.

The key point to remember is, that in order to obtain good health for your pet, you must first provide good nutrition and avoid dangerous ingredients. Good nutrition lowers vet bills and avoids many health problems caused by an inferior product. Most owners think that offering such high quality foods will be too costly and unaffordable for them. Not in the long run, and not if you wish the best for your friend.

Canned and Dry Dog Foods

Whichever one you are considering, remember to check and see if the ingredients on the label contain whole, real recognizable ingredients that comply with known high standards. This means, no by-products and no grains are the first thing to eliminate, as they will surely wave the red flag as a low quality product. The main ingredient should consist of specific meat meal, or, meats as the main ingredient and not unspecified meat meal. Any whole meats such as chicken, beef, lamb, duck, turkey, pheasant, bison, venison, salmon and the like are all good ingredients. Also look for a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Probiotics And Nutritional Supplements

While probiotics and nutritional supplements are added to most dog diets, the more reputable and higher end manufacturer's provide detailed information for each and every supplement, and how, the supplement will benefit your dog. Avoid the nasty preservatives and supplements that are used. Any preservative used, should be natural and healthy and not some of the deplorable chemical additions. Good natural preservatives such as ascorbic acid, vitamin C and vitamin E, are acceptable ingredients.

Where To Buy The Best Dog Food

You need to arm yourself with detailed information, advice and the knowledge I will give you to properly begin your search at feed stores, veterinary offices and natural food stores.

You will even be able to search online once you know, what is good and what is not good in your selection of a dog food. You will be able to easily see through the many claims that "we offer the best dog food". Do you honestly think, that if you do what has been suggested here, that you can be anything but right on target in your selection? I don't think so.

Commercial Dog Food

Remember, they are in most cases, nothing but flashy advertising and mostly fluff. If they have the budget and the money, they can claim whatever they want to claim. In fact, most of these major manufacturer's have had recalls on their products, in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Most of the low end, cheap and low quality foods are made up of mostly by-products, meat meals, fillers and grains.

Raw Dog Food

Many dog owners are now getting into raw dog foods more and more each day. They believe that by doing this, raw is more natural to dog's, and they know exactly what their dog is getting. Some also believe that raw meat, will allow their dog to grow stronger with a leaner body. I am not too sure I subscribe totally to this belief, but used in combination with other foods, it can be a healthy alternative as well.

Just remember, that if you do this, the meat must be very fresh as to avoid any possible food poisoning. You may even want to throw in a raw bone occasionally, so long as it is not cooked. When it is cooked, it becomes brittle and splinters, thus causing harm to your dog.

Homemade Dog Food

Here is another big plus. Expenses can be cut dramatically when doing a homemade dog food. While it is cheaper than commercially manufactured products, you can tailor a diet that fulfills every one of your dog's nutritional needs, while giving him a variety of fresh made wholesome meals he can look forward to every day. You can see to it that his meals are chemically and filler free.

You thought homemade dog food recipes were hard to do, time consuming and expensive. Think again. Let your dog live much longer than he normally would. For your dog's sake and well being, do it now.

You can find a host of resources both on and off line featuring recipes to choose from. Many experts in the field believe that a diet of homemade food coupled with an occasional treat of raw dog food is a great combination both in nutrition and variety.

Don't despair, the task before you is really quite a simple one indeed. If you are armed with the free tools at my site, then trust me, your job will be a very easy one.

Print out your free downloads from my site below, and take them with you when you go analyzing the ingredients used by the dog food manufacturer's. It is as simple as that. You will then be properly armed with all that you need. Now go out and do it right.

I hope the information contained in this article, has been informational, meaningful, and helpful to you. It is my design, that you use this article in any way that you feel will benefit you. I only ask, that you don't plagiarize its content, and that you keep the author box and back link in tact.