The ethics, quality of manufacturing, the sourcing and quality of ingredients is what separates the good food from the crap. Good dog food uses real ingredients fit for human consumption and quality manufacturing. The big brand food has none of that. Its scary what goes into some dog food (filler) that is sold, and even scarier the ethics behind it all. If you remember that dog food scare from years back? All the popular, big brands of dog food were the ones that was killing all those pets. IIRC it was an ingredient sourced from China that was contaminated with melamine.
