While the info you want exists at least for some of the brands, it is difficult to dig out. Likely you have the equivalent of the American Association of Feed Control Officers that has a good, detailed listing of what dogs need, not just a protein percentage, but amounts for each amino acid. Chances are the information comes from much of the same research or just different enough to prove they didn't really copy the other one.

So information such as the source of the protein or the percent total protein are easy to find, but I have never seen figures for glysine, alanine, lysine, etc. Dogs require a minimum of each one. There are 2 ways to meet those requirements. You can use less protein from carefully selected sources to give just the right balance, or it maybe cheaper to use more of less well balanced proteins. The dog still gets what it needs, and burns off the excesses as energy.

So as you turn over each bag to read the percent crude protein, it tells you nothing. Knowing it comes from human grade meat only quiets your stomach. If a dog is going to have healthy internal organs, it may be better to have internal organs in it diet. You are better off looking for ''tested using procedures approved by the AAFCO'' or the Royal .... Better yet is access to large programs that have carefully tracked how dogs do for years on different diets. That is why I confidently feed the common brands the service dog schools recommend.

If your dog seems to be OK on what you are feeding, I would continue it. You can create problems switching around. You can also worry your dog sick if you are stressed over what you are feeding it.

Breed: Estrelas

Age: 13 months and 8 months

Exercise: 1/2 hour in morning and 1 hour min evening playing and running. Obedience once per week.

Food: Skinners Salmon and Rice with mince in the morning and chicken carcass/ lamb bones evening.

I used to feed Loki on 100% raw food, and would with my two, but at the moment don't have the freezer space as they eat a lot! I chose Skinners as Rio was quite thin and I wanted to get weight on her. They will be going back to 100% raw once I get myself organised! I feed raw because I believe it's the best thing for them.

dogs breed: chinese crested (powderpuff)

age: 12 months

food type/make:royal canin / propplan

daily exercise (any any agility etc..)..: 1-2 hours a day, at least an hour off lead and ringcraft on monday and wednesday nights for 2 hours.

how long you have been using that brand:since i had her from 8 weeks

and why you chose the brand: the breeder had her on pro plan and i added royal canin for a bit of variety

anything else:she gets treats like dentastix, pigs ears, and bits of meat now and again, aswell as eggs and fish. she also like the treat from the deli it at pets at home especially the tomato ravioli

dogs breed: Golden Retriever

food type/make: We use tin food mixed with either biscuits or biscuit mixer. As for make, Pets at home wet tin food and Pedigree for the Mixer at present.

how long you have been using that brand: Pets at home wet food tin, several months. Pedigree Mixer, first time.

and why you chose the brand: Pets at home, good quality food and good value. Pedigree Mixer, was on offer and we know the brand also.

anything else: We have tried quite a few for Harley and in the end he prefers the less popular brands (e.g pedigree )for wet food. As for biscuits, we did try him on natural stuff but he didn't like it at all however he will eat natural treats (e.g james wellbeloved). All other biscuits or mixers he generally tends to like. We also find he prefers his mix of wet and biscuit/mixer rather than having either or, or having them seperately.

dogs breed: Westie and Basenji x BC

food type/make: Burns, JWB, AG, NatureDiet and fish4dogs, they include treats too.

They also get the occasional raw chicken win and lamb ribs.

daily exercise (any any agility etc..)..: 2 - 3 hours per day, sometimes more. Not including play in the house and garden. Agility now and again, but not a lot.

how long you have been using that brand: A few years.

and why you chose the brand: Additive and colouring free. Hypoallergenic. Good quality ingredients.

anything else: I find Burns (low protein content) help keep my Westie slim, healthy and free from skin issues.

The higher protein content in AG is better suited to my cross. They also get sardines, mackeral etc.

At tea times, they are never fed just plain, dry kibble. They get some JWB pouch added, or sardines, chicken etc, always with a drizzle of EV olive oil.

dogs breed:

Beagle

food type/make:

Burns Mini Bites / Burns Active / Burns Alert

daily exercise (any any agility etc..)..:

2 - 3 hours walk/park per day
Agility, flyball, running/canicross, lure coursing, swimming...

how long you have been using that brand:

About 18 months

and why you chose the brand:

Our oldest pup went on hunger strike at about 4 months old. She'd had a mild tummy upset and I fed her chicken and rice for 24 hours. She started turning her nose up at anything else. I went through umpteen brands trying to tempt her and finally went to the vets for advice on a home prepared diet as she clearly didn't like commercial food. The vet told me I was allowing myself to be manipulated by a puppy and that I was to let her starve. She guaranteed that the pup would eat whatever I put in front of her within 4 days.

The receptionist at the vets recommended Burns mini bites. So we went with that.

The vet was right - our pup started eating towards the end of day 4 and hasn't stopped since!

anything else:

We stayed with burns because our dogs both do very well on it. They look great and perhaps most importantly for a breed prone to obesity it keeps them very lean.

We tried numerous foods including a raw diet for a short while. The dogs were OK on everything we gave them from chappie, to Pedigree Chum to raw. But their physical performance is noticeably better on Burns.

When they outgrew minibites we put them onto Burns Active as they are extremely active dogs.

Beagles aren't the easiest dogs in the world to train. It helps if you always have a stash of tasty food rewards. We're able to feed ours their full quota of Burns and still give them lots of cooked meats as training treats without weight problems. If we're wanting to give more training treats for any reason we switch them to Burns Alert or a mixture of Alert and Active.

I like the fact that it's a holistic diet with nothing artificial.

I'm sure they'd do well on other quality kibble diets but the significant thing about burns that many comment on is that it keeps them lovely and lean. And that's one of the biggest factors when it comes to good health.

dogs breed: 2 Min Schnauzer adults / whippets (one 13 weeks)

food type/make: Trophy Petfoods complete (puppy and lite)/ Nature Diet/ raw

daily exercise (any any agility etc..)..: 1 1/2 - 2 hours - pup much less

how long you have been using that brand: 2 years

and why you chose the brand: Trophy : Additive free, not tested on animals, suits all my dogs, Trophy adviser on hand for consultation and delivery. Nature Diet: good protein content, not high in water like most packs and pouches.

anything else: Nature Diet and Trophy are mixed. Older whippet alternates raw and biscuit mixer with ND and biscuit mixer. All look great and poops are fine!!

dogs breed: Jack Russell

food type/make: Burns Holistic Food

daily exercise (any any agility etc..)..: Two short walks, one long one and daily agility training in between.

how long you have been using that brand: Since the day he came home, slowly mixing it in with his food from the breeders.

and why you chose the brand: Well recommended, very good for his skin and he loves it! Good price too from where we buy it from. Lasts a good while for 7.5kg and can easily be obtained from a local pet shop. Many different flavours to choose from so we can change according to what tastes he prefers