By Taz PHOTO BY JUSTIN ROSENBERG

Okay, we've all seen review and ratings lists and personal/professional recommendations of high quality versus low quality foods, right? But you have to wonder... who watches the watchers? Which rating groups are ardent and sincere animal lovers who only care about the health of our pets and the nutritional quality of their food -- and which ones are disguised industry shills astroturfing for a corporate paylord? Well, it's hard to tell sometimes, but ConsumerSearch.com has reviewed the reviewers for dog food (as of August 2010), and I'm inclined to go along with their findings because their first five top-rated review groups have also been my personal favorite top five review groups for a long time. I've used every one of these sources to learn more about nutrition in general, as well as find details about specific commercial foods, and they are all useful. To me, though, The Whole Dog Journal (WDJ) has long been the holy grail of dog food reviews, for very good reason: their research is painstaking and detailed, with onsite visits and extremely strict criteria. But their annual lists of recommended foods are only available to subscribers (the subscription fee is reasonable, and worth it, in my opinion), so their recommendations don't get as much attention as they should in the internet age of instant-and-free information. Importantly, though, in addition to their thorough methodology, you always know that the Whole Dog Journal reviews are up to date and fresh each year, while it can often be difficult or impossible to find out how old a review is from another source -- and it's important! Sometimes companies are bought out or change management and quality plummets... but they coast along on their old reputation for a few years, effectively (but legally!)  defrauding owners who are trying to provide their pet with the healthiest possible option.

Speaking of the WDJ list, I'm going to steal Yvonne's comments about the 2011 list from the Groovy Cats & Dogs Facebook pages here because she makes some great points: