Some of the most popular material on my Ballyhara Irish Wolfhounds website is the page Irish Wolfhound Diet & Nutrition, which, of course, is not just applicable for wolfhounds but any dog whatsoever. Since some of my Readers do feed dry dog food, I thought it may be helpful to share information from Dr. Jean Dodds Tumblr Blog on commercial pet food published last week "The Six Pillars of Choosing Commercial Dog Food"  with an excerpt from her post.

The Six Pillars of Choosing Pet Food

1. Ingredients
a. What are they?
b. Will your pet have a sensitivity reaction to any of them?

2. Sourcing
a. Where do the ingredients come from?
b. Are the grains, potatoes and vegetable ingredients GMO-free and organic
c. Are the proteins grass-fed or free-range?
d. Where do the added vitamins and minerals originate?

See my two articles “ Food Sourcing: Six tips when choosing your pet’s diet” and “ GMO Foods and Mycotoxins in Pet Foods” for more information.

3. Processing – Do you want kibble, raw or dehydrated?
See my article “ The Six Processed Forms of Dog and Cat Food”.

4. Manufacturing
a. Has the manufacturer had any recent recalls?
b. What do you know about their facilities and food handling practices?
c. Is the food made in the company’s own plant or in a plant making products for many or several food companies?

See my article “ A Hush-Hush Topic: Mislabeled, undeclared, unidentified, or missing ingredients from pet foods”.

5. Additives
a. Are the preservatives natural or synthetic (artificial)?
b. Does it contain artificial colors?

See my blog post “ The Cat That Ate the Kibble”.

6. Balanced
a. Is the food balanced for your pet?
b. If not, will you need to supplement or worry about vitamin and mineral toxicity?

See my article “ Vitamin and Minerals – Supplementation and Overdoing It”.

Moreover, I think those people who do feed commercial dog food can find additional practical advice in another of Dr. Dodds post's Food Sourcing: Six Tips When Choosing Your Pet’s Diet

Here is a another brief but important excerpt from Dr. Dodds post:

Six Quick Tips

• Made in the XXX…Made in a certain country does not mean the ingredients were sourced from the same country or even surrounding countries. Animal proteins are especially of concern. If a company cannot unequivocally tell you from where the meat is sourced, stay away. Make sure the farming practices from the source country have a good and reliable record. 

• US Labeling
  - Cage Free: The phrases “cage free” and “free range” do not pertain to what the animal was fed, but how humanely it was raised. While cage free is definitely an improvement over Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), the term is not regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). So, you will have to have faith that the producers are ethical in their claims. 
  - Free Range: In order to obtain labels bearing the claim “free range,” producers must provide a brief description of the housing conditions with the label, when it is submitted to USDA’s Labeling Program and Delivery Division (LPDD) for approval. The written description of the housing conditions is reviewed to ensure there is continuous, free access to the out-of-doors for over 51% of the animals’ lives, i.e., through their normal growing cycle. 
  - Grass-Fed: To use this on a label, the USDA requires farmers to ensure their animals have access to the outdoors during the grass growing season, which could be only six months out of the year in some states. The diet should be derived solely from forage consisting of grass (annual and perennial), forbs (e.g., legumes, Brassica), or cereal grain crops in the vegetative (pre-grain) state. This is definitely preferred and we hope the USDA will make the guidelines more stringent. 

• Has this company had any recent food recalls? If so, what was the reason: ingredient sourcing or equipment? Has it been adequately addressed, as far as you can discern?

• Is the food declared to be free of wheat, corn and soy?

• Does the food contain rosemary or oregano (most pet foods do), which should not be fed if your dog is an epileptic.

• Remember that commercial dry foods can contain other ingredients than those declared on the label. So, if your dog appears not to tolerate the food you select, this could be one of the reasons.

I hope that this info helps even the most veteran breeder or dog enthusiasts in their efforts to supply the very best nutrition available for their dogs.