When to switch onto adult food depends on your dog’s breed and size. Small breeds can switch around 7 months, medium breeds around 12 months, large breeds between 12-18 months, and giant breeds often skip puppy food all
together.

Or you can choose an "all-life-stages" food. All-life-stages foods work for both puppies and adults, you just feed different amounts. (There is a grid on the package that you look at your dog’s size, age, and activity level to determine how much to feed.)

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On choosing a good dog food:

Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don’t digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of "by products" listed.

Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

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There is no single food that is "best". For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. (I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It’s healthier for the gums and teeth.)

Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick – http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold – http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Canidae – http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf – http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen – http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/orijen/
* Wellness – http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/
* Chicken Soup brand – http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
* Blue Buffalo – http://www.bluebuff.com/
* Innova – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
* Innova EVO – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)

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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)

Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.

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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.

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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells "Solid Gold" and "Natural Balance" brands and Petsmart sells "Blue Buffallo", which are all quality foods, but most of the foods aren’t.)

Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.

Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores

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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A

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For treats, I stick to holistic or natural treats.

Here are some of the store-bought treats I use. :
- Liv-a-Littles – http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp?id=UU-1016
- Wellness WellBites – http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/wellness/dog_wellness_treats_wellbites.html
- Protreat Dried Beef Liver – http://www.petco.com/product/6439/Gimborn-Pro-Treat-Freeze-Dried-Beef-Liver-Treats.aspx
- Yummy Chummies – http://www.yummychummies.com/
- Buddy Biscuits – https://www9.mailordercentral.com/cloudstar/prodinfo.asp?number=W12X30
- Mini Naturals – http://www.zukes.com/shop/index.php?cPath=2_10

When I know we’re going to be using the treats up quickly, like on training class days, I will also cut up pieces of vegetables such as carrots, green beans, and pea pods to include as well to cut down on the overall calorie intake.

For dog biscuits, we use the Innova EVO biscuits.
http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1499

Or I sometimes give my dog a snack of a banana slice wrapped in dried duck meat. I get it at PetCo, but I don’t see a link for it on their website. (The ingredients are simple though: Duck and Banana.)
.

Puppy wants to be on a puppy food until 12 months of age. The best brands are Hills, Eukanuba, JWB e.t.c but these are more expensive than your supermarket brands but that is because they are better for your dog. Pedigree is full of crap like most of the other cheaper brands.

A biscuit diet is far better than a meat diet, meat rots the teeth and tinned dog meat is 70% moisture and just rubbish really. You want a good quality complete biscuit diet. If you have somewhere to keep a large amount and it has a long date on it then it will work out cost effective to buy a bigger bag!

Instead go to this link and it will tell you the ingredients, it’s rating and why they rated it the way they did. Good luck.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php

A good milk bone makes a nice treat. Just be sure you watch them with anything new so they don’t choke.