It is likely that wherever you get your dog or puppy from, a pack of the food they are currently eating will be provided. Before continuing on with this food, the ingredients should be checked to make sure it is of good enough quality. When dogs eat high quality kibble, they eat less, poop less, and are all around much healthier! In order to choose a good food for your dog, you need to check the ingredients. The first ingredient should be some sort of meat, since dogs are carnivores (meat-eaters), such as beef or chicken, and not 'meal' as in 'beef meal' or 'chicken meal'. These are the by-products, heads, feet, bones, etc., that are left over from animals for human consumption and ground down and used for some dog foods. They are not as high quality, nor do they have as much nutritional value, as the meat itself. Other ingredients to avoid are grains, but especially corn as many dogs are allergic to it.
Another option for feeding your dog is to feed a diet made up completely of raw meat. This is very natural for the dog, but must be researched well before deciding on any such diet. Here is a good place to start: Raw feeding FAQ
Once you have chosen a new type of dog food, if needed, you need to slowly introduce it into your dog's diet. A new dog food must be mixed with the old food, slowly adding more new and less old, over a period of around two weeks to ensure that the dog's stomach can handle the switch. Many dogs experience diarrhea from switching types of food too quickly.
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