What type of food should you choose? Dry foods are convenient. Canned foods are more palatable, typically, but more expensive. Fresh foods combine palatability and high-quality ingredients (and convenience if you buy a prepared frozen raw diet), but they also tend to be more expensive. The decision you make will depend on your lifestyle, budget, and how much time you can spend on researching the subject.

If you decide to feed a commercial food, feed the best food you can afford. In general, high-quality ingredients cost more. But there's an important caveat. If you buy the more heavily marketed food, some of the price is going into advertising, not ingredients.

No matter whether you choose to feed kibble, canned, or fresh food, it's important to give your dog variety. With kibble and canned, that means switching brands and protein sources every three months or so. This flies in the face of conventional advice that dogs don't need variety and they should eat the same food without variation. Feeding the same food year after year is a great way to develop a food allergy or sensitivity in your dog.