Is the food im feeding my dog the best food I can be feeding them? I feed my dogs Nutro I asked the helpers in petsmart and trainers and they say its a good brand to have them on. So is it? I cant do homemade because there is not enough time to make a weeks worth of food for 4 dogs.
Dog Food Advisor publishes an online analysis. You can check out: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
A few vets that I've asked have all said that making fresh food usually misses the mark anyway because it's missing vitamins & minerals that dogs need that human food lacks and more importantly the abrasive nature of dry kibble is good for the teeth - in cleaning teeth, which is good for health. If their answers were different, I would have started making fresh food regularly, but all of them said no.
The best type of food also depends greatly on the individual dog. High energy, athletic dogs are going to have different needs than couch potatoes. Older dogs have very different needs than puppies. Many dogs do better on certain types of protein or grain than others. For instance, a friend's dog can't tolerate poultry; chicken, duck, or turkey based foods give her an asthmatic-sounding cough. My last dog thrived on a grain free, salmon based diet because the higher oil content helped his dry skin. My current two dogs don't have any special needs, so I don't have to be as picky about their diet, but they also get their meals supplemented with a lot of veggie scraps.
Take a look at brands you're considering on the link Deb posted to make sure they're generally considered high quality, and then decide on your preference based on what your dogs thrive on and enjoy.
Look for a grain-free dog food with meat (not by-products) and veggies in the first 5 ingredients. Also avoid foods with other carbs that are broken down into separate ingredients: potato, potato starch, peas, pea starch, pea protein. If they're breaking it down, they're putting in more filler. I always love giving my dogs foods with pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and salmon.