Because we owners - and not the dogs themselves - are the ones choosing what our dogs eat and what kind of nutrition they get, it's up to us to know exactly what we're feeding them, and how it affects their health and well-being.

There are a lot of options out there for dog food and dog treats, but many of them aren't as good for your pet as the manufacturers would have you believe. In fact, some of these ingredients, when consumed over a long time and in large amounts, can be seriously harmful for your dog. Read each ingredient label carefully: these things that make up the dog food are listed by weight, so look at what your dog food is mostly made of.

Don't buy foods and dog treats that list "meat byproducts" or a lot of wheat and grain ingredients like "potato product" or "grain fermentation solubles." These grain by-products tend to add large amounts of carbohydrates in your dog's diet. Many of these foods have up to 70 percent of carbohydrate ingredients, while the dog's body is typically made to handle a diet that is less than 30 percent carbohydrate. Many cheap pet food manufacturers like to use wheat by products like corn and wheat because they act as extenders- letting them make more food from inexpensive ingredients. Excessive carbohydrate intake, though, may cause health problems for your dog: maldigestion, and obesity, along with all the health problems that being overweight brings.

And animal byproducts aren't any better. What "byproducts" means is that this is the stuff that would otherwise have been thrown away: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, and stomach and intestines from different animals. And the sources of these byproducts aren't even very regulated - they can (and have, in some cases) come from roadkill, or livestock that's been labeled 4-D: dead, diseased, disabled, dying.

So read those labels carefully, and get to know what your dog is really eating. There are many premium dog food brands out there that primarily whole foods like meat from chicken or lamb, which are the best sources of nutrition for your dog. Wellness dog food and dog treats are a good example of brands whose ingredients will help your companion along for a healthy, happy life.