The best place to start is to talk to your veterinarian. Some dogs have special dietary requirements that your veterinarian can help you determine. Other dogs do just fine on food that you can get from the pet store. Still, others need diets for their GI tract, kidneys, or things like that, so talking to your veterinarian first is always recommended. But if you have a happy, healthy dog at home, I know my personal favorite is the food you can get over the counter made by Purina, so their Purina One and Purina Pro Plan line, or even Hill's. Hill's Science Diet line and Royal Canin have over-the-counter lines that you can get at the store as well.

And, the reason why I like those brands so much is that they make the veterinary diets that we prescribe for your pet. So, if they have GI issues or kidney issues or liver issues, or things like that, I trust them to recommend them to you for your pets when they have those needs. I also trust their regular diets that are over-the-counter.

It depends on your dog and what your dog's needs are. For the most part, most dogs benefit from a dry food-only diet, but you may want to spoil your pet a little bit and give them a bit of canned food, which is just fine and offers a mixed diet. Some dogs as they get older benefit from having the added water content that’s in canned food, or maybe they've had dental work done and they’ve had a lot of teeth removed, so they benefit from having some soft food. So it depends on your dog and your dog’s needs.

Getting that commercially prepared diet that has that AFCO statement on it (AFCO has checked that food) is the best way to ensure your dog has the most balanced, proper ration and nutrition they need.

Just like you and me, dogs require protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. And what I recommend is choosing a commercial dog food that has been pre rationed, predetermined, and has gone through the AFCO recommendations to be a suitable, fully-rationed diet for your pet. When we do those home-cooked diets, it can be challenging to ensure that we're getting everything that they absolutely need into those diets. And so the commercial brand foods are wonderful.

Right around when most dogs hit that one-year mark, or for some of the larger breed dogs that may be as late as 18 months, we like to transition them over to any adult formulated diet. You’ll surely see some foods out there that are made for quote unquote, all life stages. But I would encourage you to look for a dog food that's more geared towards the adult life stage instead of all life stages. Selecting a good quality adult dog food from a brand you trust is the best thing that you can do.

We get asked that a lot. The best food for a puppy is puppy food. It is formulated to meet all of their nutritional needs and requirements. As they grow, they need more minerals and vitamins in a higher ratio than adult dogs do. Puppy foods also tend to be more calorie-dense, which is great for puppies. Most of you who have puppies know that they like to burn a lot of energy, so they need that higher caloric intake and those foods provide that.