The nutritional guideline standards for dogs are set by the National Research Council (NRC). These guidelines state the minimum amount of vitamins, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates that the pet food industry must abide by.

These include meat by-products, meat, wheat middlings, corn, oats, barley, brewers yeast, rice, animal and or vegetable fats, poultry, fish meal, cereals, bone meal, soybean meal – all of which contain the required nutrients.

In order to meet the palatability requirements (so the food is enjoyed by the dogs), pet food manufactures are permitted to add bacon, tomato puree, onion power, salt, garlic, and a variety of other ingredients to make the food taste and smell nice.

For the consumer, handling is made easier by packaging the pet food in bags of various weights, from one to fifty pound. In cans at twelve to sixteen ounce, and packs that are see-through for individual severed cans and packs.

Once packaged and sat on the supermarket shelve, it is vital for the manufactures to get the pet owner's attention to their own particular brand of food.

In order to gain the attention of the consumer pet manufactures often display their products to appear like Choice Streaks, Fresh Ground Hamburgers, Chunks of Lean Beef, and even as Breakfast Cereal.

Here are the three main types of Dog food products –

• Complete or Balance Foods (everything the pet needs in a single can) – This product contains all the vitamins and minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins needed for a healthy diet.

• Supplementary foods (add to complete foods to improve palatability) – These foods get the pet's appetite stimulated sufficiently to eat the complete / main food.

• Dog treat bags & snacks (training rewards or simply to pamper) – these range from cereal biscuits to beef jerky for dogs.

Supplementary foods and treats aren't intended to form a basic diet of a pet. If a diet for pets was to solely consist of the snacks, the meals would be lacking in the required vitamins and nutrients. Most manufactures will mention on the packaging that these secondary meals shouldn't be used as the sole diet.

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