Dog food can be a controversial subject. Those who favor certain diets or brands are sometimes critical of those who choose another. With so many types of foods and diets, so many brands, and so many competing sales pitches, how do you know what's best for your puppy? Learn how to read food labels so that you can understand exactly what you're feeding her.

Start with the list of ingredients. The law requires pet food manufacturers to list ingredients by weight. So if an item is listed first, that means there is more of that item in the food than the other items listed farther down the list. You want high-quality, easily digestible foods listed at the top. Be careful of manufacturers who split up an ingredient into several different smaller ingredients. For example, let's say at the top of the list you see "chicken, ground corn, corn gluten, corn bran." Three of those ingredients are corn. Put together, they may outweigh the top ingredientchicken. There is also a difference if the manufacturer uses human-grade ingredients. A cheaper brand of dog food may have a deceptively good ingredient list, but if the food is not human grade, then there is less quality going into your puppy.