@BDawg:
After much debate– we have decided to change food. We are currently on Blue Buffalo. I have read on the links you have-- DogFoodAnalysis.com-- and looked into EVO or Orijen. We went to a speciality dog food store and found both products. Granted, they are TWICE the price of Blue Buffalo, we bought EVO Red Meat Small Bites to try out. The owners of the store really seemed to want to push the RAW diet-- they had an entire freezer section of raw foods that were all pre-measured for convenience, but I'm not sure we're ready to jump into that boat just yet.
Right now we free feed and it works well for the dogs. Both are at a healthy weight and are in good condition. The reason we thought about changing is because Blue Buffalo has pieces in it called "Life Pellets". The dogs will actually pick these out and spit them into the living room. Holy annoying. I have to vacuum AT LEAST once a day because there are life pellets everywhere!! It's been driving me nuts so that's why we looked into something else. Conveniently, you all posted the link that helped us find our way. I think my main concern right now is if they really like EVO, that they will still self regulate and not over eat. We'll have to see how this goes. We might have to resort to two dishes and meal times-- which I just don't prefer.
Anyway, thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. We will keep you posted on the progress of the transition.
BDawg…I think your kids will really like the EVO. Ruby was on the red meat EVO, but for her, the small bites weren't keeping her teeth clean enough and I couldn't get the larger bites locally. Ruby (who is somewhat crate phobic) would run into her crate and sit and wait for me to put the EVO down for her. When I added Grizzly Salmon Oil (every other day), she would sing, then run into her crate and wait for dinner! That was success so IMO I think Lexi & Miles will love it!
I switched to Timberwolf because the bit size was better for Ruby, it was available locally and it was fish based and Ruby definitely LOVES fish!
Now I've changed to Orijen because of the Timberwolf ingredient change made Brando go on a hunger strike and he refused to eat it. Both kids run into their crates and wait for Orijen. Holy cow is Orijen expensive though...15lb bag for $42.
Anyway, you folks that live in bigger areas are lucky, because finding good foods consistently has been quite the challenge. I was a little worried because only one place locally sold Orijen, but because of Timberwolf changing ingredients and my favourite store (Planet Dog) yanking it off their shelves...because my 2 dogs were affected, I got to vote on what food to replace it and they are replacing it with Orijen. And they told me that if they ever stopped carrying it, they would always special order it. I love Planet Dog!!!!