I would say the most important thing would be that they have grain in them. I know that this can be a shocker to many people, but studies lately suggested that grain-free diets can lead to heart disease. And I've seen two or three clinical cases myself where the owner is just feeding them a grain-free diet thinking it's the best thing for their beloved animal. Then we, unfortunately, have to treat the dog for congestive heart failure. So I think it's essential to make sure that their dog food has grain in it. Also, make sure that the food is meant for day in and day out feeding.

So if you have a small toy breed dog who's a puppy, I would recommend feeding more than two times a day - sometimes three to four times a day - to prevent low blood sugar. On average, feeding your dog two times a day is adequate.

So, for big breed puppies, I would recommend feeding a big breed puppy food. When they get older, it's a little less important. Royal Canin has some awesome breed-specific foods that they've put a lot of research into. So I would encourage you to look more into those foods as well.

Life stage nutrition is a critical topic. There are three different stages that your dog can be in—puppy, adult, or senior. And you must buy food based on that stage, just because the nutrients and the calories that they need are very different at each stage.

It’s important to work with your veterinarian to figure out how many calories your dog should have. And then you should also choose a good diet. We need to make sure that we choose a complete diet for your dog since that is the only source of nutrition they get day in and day out. So some of the diets that I like the best would be Royal Canin, Purina, and Hill's.