I just switched my weim puppy from Beta Puppy (what the breeder was feeding her) to the Orijen Large Puppy food and like the initial poster, I have to say "Wow!"  She loves it so much I have started using it as treats too.  The only bad bit is that in the UK it costs a fortune!!  However, that said, she deserves a good diet as much as I do.  I made the switch mainly due to the fact that weims are generally gluten intolerant as well as soya intollerant so a grain-free diet is necessary for her health.  Since switching she hasn't had any soft/runny stools and the odour has reduced as well (thank goodness!) Not to mention her doggy breath is less offensive...

With dogs being intolerant to grains one does wonder why so many allegedly good dog foods contain them.  As for many of the comments regarding high protein not being good for a dog, I must ask what percentage of protein a wolf eats? Granted our furry friends are altered by breeding from their pure carnivor ancestors but clearly not by that much given their digestive peculiarities.

So as not to sound as if I am advertising for Orijen I wanted to add that since Loki is my first dog, I did the research and Orijen came out on top.  There were a few other candidates as well, like Solid Gold and Timberwolf wich seem to be equally good though harder to source in the UK. In time I will see if I have chosen correctly but so far so good!

Loki, what I find interesting is that although our dog appears to be allergic to the kibbles w/ grains, he is not at all allergic to the grains we put in his home cooked meals.  Makes me wonder a bit about the grain souces used by the PFI?  Just wondering.  Obviously, most dogs are doing OK w/ kibbles that are not grain free, and so it is an individual issue.  For kibble our Jake gets Orijen Adult and alternates w/ Orijen Six Fish.  He has no problem w/ the ingredients in those two grain free foods.  Perhaps it is something other than the grains in the other brands he does not tolerate.  (He got very itchy and his coat turns dry and falls out in clumps on prior feeding programs.)

I wondered about the high protein level in grain free foods.  Jake's annual blood work was fine, however.  Also, when we serve the home cooked he does get meals w/ much lower protein, so that is playing into the total diet here as well. 

The answer as to what level of protein is actually correct differs depending on what I read.  I try to console myself w/ the fact that my grandparents' dogs were fed kitchen scraps and no one thought a thing of weighing and measuring and calculating how much of what they got.  They all lived well into late teens and one that was dropped off on their country road as a young dog lived several healthy decades on my grandparents' farm. 

Loki thx for posting the dogtorj site again. Lots of helpful information on there for pets and humans too!