Check out the Bones and Raw Food (BARF) Diet for dogs. http://www.barfworld.com/html/learn_more/barf_pups.shtml

Like people dogs are omnivores, perhaps a titch more carnivorous. Most bagged food is full of cooked grain, try and avoid that, just like you would for the basis of your diet.

If you are going to be good enough to your pooch to get them meats and offal, definitely don't rain on their parade by cooking it. I second the BARF book as an excellent resource, however I have found it overwhelming to make sure my dog is getting a well rounded diet when making meals myself.

I highly recommend Answers Pet Food: http://www.answerspetfood.com/search.html. They are one of the few raw foods that don't do that gross denaturizing thing (Primal just started this last year after a recall) and they have TONS of helpful info on their website. Plus, great customer service. My dog started turning up his nose at their chicken formula out of the blue (we buy chicken and beef by the case) and I checked in with them about it. They mentioned they had reformulated a little and the chicken was holding on to a bit too much kombucha flavor, they had already corrected the problem and gave me some free raw goats milk to increase palatability. Winners.

Also, being on a raw diet means that my 90 pound dog (who was taking giant man dumps on a high quality kibble at 4 months old) takes the most beautiful, firm, TINY, non stinky poops I have ever seen. I like to believe this is good for my well being, too, as I feel a lot less resentment at having to carry around bags of poop on hikes ;) Plus, dogs with frequently softer poops needs to have their anal glands manually expressed, talk about resentment.

Check the "related" side column, which links to several threads that have discussed this topic already.

In short, the ideal diet is raw. You can DIY or buy patties/nuggets that contain meat and veggies already in it. Several brands exist that are generally sold in good pet shops. You also want to supplement with bones. Dogs aren't carnivores, so make sure that if you DIY, you're including veggies.

I feed my 80lb pup a Raw Meaty Bones diet with broccoli and other dog friendly fruits/veggies. Then I supplement with a capsule of Omega-3's once a day. Almost a year since I started and he's doing great!

Agree with all the raw food suggestions. I'm kind of lazy about keeping all the "parts" around (meat, bones, offal) and usually end up feeding my pets (dog and cats) whole ground animal from Hare Today. I switch between chicken and beef as they're the cheapest, but they also get "treats" of raw fish or fish oil squeezed on their food. My dog also gets some sort of vegetable (usually canned pumpkin), and occasionally a whole pasture egg.

I'm with Happy Now =- check out B.A.R.F. we're not 100%, but about 30% BARF. I always notice our mini Schnauzer after he eats some bones or raw....he typically takes off running and scampering around for 10 minutes. it's crazy! One can only imagine it's because it's making him feel good(??).

I used to feed the dog raw, but stopped for various reasons. I feed him Taste of the Wild now and he does really well on it.

I feed my dog Blue Buffalo dog food. The ingredients are top notch and the best I've found of any brand. Highly recommend.

@Zoomia, be sure to check the current Diamond dog food recall, some lots of Taste of the Wild are included. We were using Taste of the Wild (until it got recalled) and we just switched over to Acana Pacifica-- it's grain free and my dogs LOVE it, seriously, my 80 lb GSD actually dances when it is dinnertime.

We supplement with meaty bone: raw, pastured (NOT pasteurized, but pastured) chicken that we get from a farm and dog appropriate vegetable scraps too.

My dog eats the 4health brand from tractor supply. Doesn't contain any grains or soy. I've attempted the raw food diet, but I found it to be tedious to have bones/organs on hand at all times (although he did enjoy it!) http://www.tractorsupply.com/content/storeevents/4health_lamb_and_rice_formula

I feed prey model raw. After spending thousands (literally) in vet bills. Guess what -- her problem was leaky gut stuff! I was convinced that grain was bad for her YEARS before I thought it might be bad for me. DUH. Anyhow. Grain free kibble was a huge improvement, but now she glows with health. She's 80 lbs, ten years old, and she runs graceful circles around other dogs her size and age. Nobody EVER puts her near age ten.

I basically rotate proteins according to what's on sale, make sure to include about 10% organ meat, and use eggs and yogurt as a "pantry meal" for her in an emergency. She never gets a weight bearing bone of a large mammal.

I feed my 80 pound German Shepherd Sandy different kinds of meat, chicken, turkey, fish, ground beef, tripe, and occasionally eggs and liver. I've never fed Sandy any vegetation except for the partially digested/fermented plant matter that might be in the raw tripe she gets. Sandy's diet is all raw and unprocessed except for the canned salmon she gets once or twice a week. I give Sandy plenty of raw bones. Her teeth, at 8 years of age, are in great shape without my ever brushing them. When I adopted Sandy at age 5 from the local shelter she was underweight (ribs showing) and wouldn't eat. Now she's healthy and lean on her Paleo diet!

I don't understand why one would feel the need to give kibble to a dog, even the high end stuff, unless you don't have a yard where you can throw a sheep's skull or a chicken or something or unless the dog just won't eat raw meat.

A nice benefit of feeding raw and unprocessed is that I never have to do any prep for Sandy's meals. I usually don't even defrost the frozen stuff. Her teeth can handle frozen bony meat just fine. And, one other benefit -- if meat that I was going to eat has sat in the fridge too long and has started to smell a bit off it goes to Sandy and she loves the stuff.

I found taste of the wild and it is all natural and grain free. The dogs respond well and don't eat their poo.