Before you start making your own homemade dog food, you need to know a couple of things. You need to find out what foods are toxic to your dog. You also should understand that preparing home made dog food may not be as easy as it sounds because it's very much like to preparing food for your children. Making homemade dog food is not the same thing as gathering up your leftovers and scraps and throwing them in a dog bowl. Keep in mind, your reason for preparing home made dog food is provide you dog with a healthy diet. On the bright side, making homemade dog food can be cheaper since you can include your dog's dietary requirements in your normal food shopping expenses. Dogs are omnivores just like people. This means they can eat vegetables and grains as well as meat.

Though people and dogs have different physiologies, there are a few things in common when it comes to diet. So many times, you'll be able to make your homemade dog food while making your people food. For example, most home made dog food recipes will consist of a ratio of two thirds meat to one third vegetables. It's all a matter of healthy cooking for both you and your dog, and making homemade dog food is a great way to start.

There are 72,114,000 dogs in the United States, according to the 2007 census. With over 72 million dogs in a sales demographic, you can see why there are so many different types and varieties of dog food. The dog food industry definitely has some competition.

With so many different dog food companies vying for your dog food dollar, how do you know which dog food to choose to keep your dog healthy? Do you choose dry, moist, or a combination of both? High protein, low protein, other nutrients, what exactly do you look for?

You want the best for your dog that your money can buy. You want to keep your dog healthy and satisfy his hunger at the same time. What do you do? Do you go with what everybody else is buying? Do you ask your family and friends?

THE DOG, THE DIET, THE FOOD.

The real issue when choosing a dog food for your dog is that every dog is different. I am not just talking about breeds, though they differ to, but two dogs of the same breed may not even have the same eating habits. There is no single silver bullet cure unfortunately.

So to find the right dog food to keep your dog healthy, you are going to have to do a little detective work.

Breed. Start with the type of dog you have. Obviously a small lap dog is going to have different requirements than say, a Great Dane. Size is a large factor in energy levels and digestive systems.

Age. Puppies are growing and require lots of good stuff to help them grow and to keep their energies up. They should be feed small amounts many times throughout the day just like a baby. In the dogs prime, say 3 years old to about 6 years old, they might have a very healthy appetite at each feeding, but only eats maybe twice a day. On the other hand the older adult isn't running after everything he sees anymore and like the "early bird special" older humans, they eat earlier in the day and not so much. Then bed time is much more craved than a bowl of food after 7pm. Just saying.