My boyfriend and I both have huskies and we want to start feeding them a higher quality dog food. His dog eats the original Beneful brand right now at his home, and mine is just fed Purina.

My husky, Blitzen is a 6 1/2 year old male. He is about 65ish pounds (his ideal is about 60, so he needs to lose about 5 pounds). He loooves food and begs constantly but is very picky about dry dog foods. He has started refusing his food unless I feed it to him with a little bit of milk in it. He has a stomach of steel, and very rarely gets sick, no matter what he eats.

My boyfriend's husky, Zoey, is a 4 year old female. She is a lot smaller, around 43 pounds. We actually think that she needs to gain a little bit of weight. You can see her ribs and can feel her spine. We feed her well, and she always gets her fill of food. The vet also says she is very healthy, which she is. She is very agile, and runs constantly. We just want to put more weight on her. Because of this, I have been looking at foods for more athletic dogs. Her stomach is a little more sensitive than Blitzen's. She sometimes gets tired of her foods, but she is not quite as picky as Blitzen when it comes to dry foods (she is still a little picky, being that she is a husky, lol).

I know that we probably won't put our dogs on the exact same food at the moment. But we do want to at least get them on the same brand, so that when we move in together it will be easier to feed them. So we want to find a brand where I can get a food that will satisfy both of their needs, even if it is with different products.

We have been looking at 3 different brands:

Blue Buffalo
Science Diet
Diamond Naturals

What are everyone's opinions/suggestions about those brands of dog food??

I actually feed my girl Taste Of The Wild, it's a high end kibble it's also a diamond product, easier for me to find. Blue Buffalo I never tried, however I heard its an excellent kibble as well, the draw back for me it's at least $5 more per bag than TOTW. Science diet, imho, is not what it used to be, I don't consider it a high grade kibble anymore. What I do recommend is looking for grain free, I know another forum poster that uses the Tractor Supply brand 4 health and is happy with it. Cheaper than any of the above mentioned products and is grain free. I do think that many of us here use TOTW, some use Merrick, Acana, Orijen, they are probably top end and may be cost prohibitive. Good Luck!!

You can check out www.dogfoodavisor.com

But, yes, Grain free for sure. I had mine on Acana for a while, but recently switched them to Taste of the Wild because it's cheaper and still a high quality food. They're doing great on it!

I live in a very tiny town where we don't have many options, but We do have a tractor supply store. I ended up getting Diamond Naturals and going with the lamb and rice formula. They have Merrick there, but only like 2 different kinds. I just tried feeding it to him, though, and he is being true to his nature and being very picky. Of course I also started mixing in coconut oil today because I read that it may help with his epilepsy. I am hoping that the coconut oil is the only reason he is turned off to the food tonight, and I am going to try not adding that when I give him his morning feeding tomorrow.

There is no where around here to get TOTW

I currently give my husky half raw and half kibble (orijen senior) to provide a "balanced diet"

Out of the kibbles Orijen is one if not the best and has consistently high ratings. EVO, California Kitchen, Taste of the wild are also up there and some of these will depend on the dog and his digestive system. There are a a few others but cant remember off the top of my head.

I tried Blue Buffalo but my dog has diarrhea issues with it, so ive stayed away from it as ive read others have had this problem consistently with this food.

Science Diet is in fact pretty bad stuff as its full of fillers like ash and chicken by products. If you have an ailing dog, they put digestive enzymes and lots of various vitamins to manage certain conditions but an otherwise healthy dog should stay away but thats my opinion. Science diet funds most vet research, thats why its so popular at the vet.

If you live in a small town with limited shopping options, try Petflow.com. They carry most of the high end brands (including Orijen and TOTW) at reasonable prices with extremely fast shipping. I use them religiously, since I can't get Orijen anywhere nearby.

taylh42, Ask you Tractor supply about TOTW, mine carries it. Find it odd they don't. FWIW Drs. Foster Smith carries TOTW cheaper than petflow and I think they have a frequent buyer program, 10th bag free. Also free shipping orders $49 and over. Was going to buy from them until I discovered tractor supply carried it also. They do carry wellness, canidae, blue buffalo and some others. I've ordered many times from them so, also a safe site. Good luck.

I know your having a hard time finding TOTW but if you do try to order it, i like it because they have like 4 or 5 different flavors. And you said yor dogs get a lil picky sometimes, changing it up every bag keeps mine intersted. Mine has a pretty senstive stomach and i switch between flavors cold turkey and he doesnt have any problems cause its the same brand and similar.

Please share with dog owners from the following states;

August 26, 2014 – Mars Petcare US has announced a voluntary recall of 22 bags of Pedigree Adult Complete Nutrition dry dog food due to the possible presence of a foreign material.
Pedigree Dog Food RecallThe affected bags were sold in Dollar General stores in four states.
Although the small metal fragments are not embedded in the food itself, they may present a risk of injury if consumed.
The company is working with Dollar General to ensure that the recalled product is no longer sold and is removed from inventory.
What’s Recalled?
Only 15 pound bags of Pedigree Adult Complete Nutrition dry dog food with the production code detailed below were sold at 12 Dollar General stores in the following four states:
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Tennessee
Each product will have the lot code 432C1KKM03 printed on the back of the bag near the UPC and a Best Before date of 8/5/15.