Making homemade dog food and doing it right nutritionally may seem a bit daunting. Not to worry - our certified canine nutritionists and Dogly Nutrition Advocates are here to guide you to make it simple and answer any questions.

Learning how to make your own dog food is a great way to be certain your dog is getting the cleanest, whole food ingredients from good sources with nutrients that fit your dog's individual needs for his/her best health.

Where to start with homemade dog food though? The first step is getting a good grounding in the basics of key nutrients, what they do for your dog, and how to put them together for a healthful balanced diet. That's why the first 7 guides in the Home Cooking Channel here on Dogly are devoted to exactly that, made simple and clear by our canine nutritionists and Dogly Nutrition Advocates.

Next comes the fun of 4 guides with dog food recipes - nutritionist favorites to try while you learn pro tips and tricks to make your own dog food from certified nutritionists in the process.

Here's a look at what you'll learn in each of these 11 guides on homemade dog food:

A good starting point is the home cooking basics you'll find in the first 7 guides - to understand all the nutrient building blocks in your homemade dog food recipes and what they do for your dog.

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Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 1: Why Cooking Your Dog's Food Is Good (and Doesn't Destroy Nutrients)

To cook or not to cook? That's one of the most common questions among dog owners preparing their own homemade dog food. You may have heard the idea floating around that cooking destroys nutrients in food and raw food is always your best choice. Not true!

Heat can cause some nutrients to break down, but in many cases the right cooking process significantly increases the nutrients available to your dog. In this guide, you'll learn how cooking for your dog can enhance the nutritional value of vegetables, grains, and meats with specific examples in each category showing nutritional value before and after cooking.

Find out which cooking methods work best for what foods (spoiler alert - often it's simple steaming in the microwave) to unleash vitamins and minerals to work their magic supporting your dog's health.

Get the nutritionist's eye-view on cooking for your dog and how to maximize nutrients in this guide from certified canine nutritionist and Dogly Advocate Alicia Boemi.

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 2: How to Understand Ingredients and Nutrients in Your Dog's Food

Want to get started making homemade dog food but worried about choosing the right ingredients with the right nutrients in the right amount for your dog's nutritional needs? You're not alone - many pet parents share that concern. That's why nutritionist and Dogly Nutrition Advocate Savannah Welna created this guide to demystify the building blocks of a nutritionally balanced diet for your dog.

You'll learn how to plan a homemade diet, what are the benefits of both raw and home-cooked food, and how to work with homemade dog food recipes. You can jump into this guide and accompanying video here for a good foundation on nutrients and ingredients as you begin preparing meals for your pup.

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Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 3: Understanding Your Dog's Energy Needs & How that Factors into Your Dog's Food

An absolute requirement of every dog's diet: you must meet your dog's energy needs. How do you make sure you're doing that?

In this guide, you'll learn why energy density in food matters to your dog and how much food your dog needs in what types. In the process, you'll also find out how to calculate your individual dog's energy requirements, the difference between a kcal and a calorie, and how to feed your dog for his or her ideal, healthiest weight and vitality.

For all this and more on fulfilling your dog's energy needs, you can find this guide and video here, made simple by Dogly Nutrition Advocate Savannah Welna.

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 4: Why & How to Understand Macronutrients to Make Nutritionally Complete Homemade Dog Food

Macronutrients - proteins, fats, and carbohydrates - are 3 fundamental building blocks in creating a nutritionally balanced, healthy diet for your dog. You'll learn what each of them does for your dog and how to set your % goals for each one in your homemade dog food recipes.

You can get started on what you need to know and what your dog needs from "the big 3" macronutrients in this guide and accompanying video here from Dogly Nutrition Advocate Savannah Welna.

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 5: Understanding Fatty Acids in Homemade Food

There's a lot of talk about omega-3, omega 6, and other good or "bad" fats in both human and canine nutrition. In this guide, certified nutritionist and Dogly Nutrition Advocate Savannah Welna sorts out what you need to know, why these are called "essential fatty acids," what each one does for your dog, and where to find them in foods for your dog food recipes.

You can jump into all things omega 3 & 6 and other fatty acids for your dog's diet in this guide and video here.

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Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 6: Understanding Vitamins & Minerals in Homemade Dog Food

Who isn't intrigued by the potential impact of vitamins and minerals in our lives - our own and our dogs'? Which ones matter most, what do they do for our dogs, and where can we find them in foods?

You'll learn the answers to these questions and more on what it all means in formulating a dog food recipe as Dogly Nutrition Advocate Savannah Welna takes you through this step-by-step guide and accompanying video.

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 7: Understanding the Good Protein & Fat Sources in Your Dog's Food

Most of your nutrient-driven, homemade dog food recipes will be rich in protein and fat, and finding good sources for both is usually easy. In this last guide in the home cooking basics series, Savannah explains the why and how of sourcing good proteins and fats to optimize your dog's diet whether home-cooked dog food or raw dog food.

You'll learn where to find proteins and fats in foods and ways to prepare and cook them to increase digestibility. You can dive into this guide and video here for what you need to know about giving your dog the needed good proteins and fats.

Once you have a solid foundation on key basics from the first 7 guides in the Home Cooking Channel, you're ready for the really fun part - getting started with some favorite nutritionally balanced homemade dog food recipes and pro tips for making them from our certified canine nutritionists ...

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 8: A Favorite Ground Turkey Recipe for a 35lb Dog

You'll get one of nutritionist and Dogly Advocate Alicia Boemi's favorite ground turkey, veggie, and cod recipes in this guide, shared step by step to highlight how and why nutrients and ingredients are balanced in formulating the recipe. Alicia creates this example to fit the needs of an active, adult, 35lb dog, so you can see how the recipe would be created to match your individual dog.

Along with the homemade dog food recipe, you'll learn pro tips along the way like why sweet potato is always cooked and why it's easier and better to make your homemade dog food in batches. You can get started with Alicia's turkey, cod, vegetable recipe in this guide and video here.

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Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 9: How to Make a Lower Calorie Recipe for a 65lb Dog

Many dogs for different reasons at different points in their lives might do better on a lower calorie diet. That's one of the great things about making homemade dog food - you can manipulate your ingredient choices to deliver all the necessary nutrients but tailored to your dog's specific nutritional needs, like lower calories.

Savannah shares this nutritionally balanced, lower calorie dog food recipe she created using a 65lb adult dog formulation as an example. As she takes you through this homemade dog food recipe step by step, you'll also learn several pro tips and short cuts along the way like how to effectively work supplements into your mix and why and how to measure and store your prepared homemade food in 14-day meal portions.

You can dive into this homemade dog food recipe with Savannah in the guide and accompanying video here.

Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 10: How to Make 4 of the Best, Nutritionally Balanced, Dog Food Recipes

To get you off to a good start with plenty of options to get experience with recipes for homemade diets, Savannah shares 4 of her best complete and balanced recipes formulated for dogs of different weights - from 13 lbs up to 128 lbs.

You'll learn how to use both raw food and cooked foods to create your dog's homemade meals. With each dog food recipe, you'll learn the breakdown of their nutritional analysis, how it works, and what it means. Savannah also shares important knowledge and pro tips about why giving your dog real, whole foods matters to your dog's health and wellness now and for the long term.

If you're ready to jump in, you can find the recipes with guidance from Savannah and the accompanying video here.

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Dog Food Home Cooking Guide 11: How to Make Bone Broth for Your Dog with this Collagen-rich Recipe

If you've been wanting to make super healthy bone broth for your dog but felt a little daunted by the prospect, here's your chance with this simple recipe. In this step-by-step guide, canine nutritionist and Dogly Advocate Alicia Boemi takes you through her easy, collagen-rich bone broth recipe, how to make it, and why it's so beneficial for your dog's joint and overall health.

You'll learn Alicia's tips and tricks for making sure your broth is loaded with collagen and ways to add your favorite healthful extras like turmeric and vegetables, herbs, and greens (also what NOT to add).

Get started making your own bone broth for your dog with this recipe and guide here.

That's the Home Cooking Channel here on Dogly!

If you've gone through each guide in the Home Cooking Channel, you should have a solid foundation in all the nutritional elements and some good recipe options to begin making your own homemade food for your dog. Congrats!

If you're just getting started, that's great too! A good starting point is the first guide in this channel - Why Cooking Your Dog's Food Is Good (and Doesn't Destroy Nutrients) followed by How to Understand Ingredients and Nutrients in Your Dog's Food and the rest of the foundational guides covering home cooking basics.

Home Cooking is just one of many channels here on Dogly. Be sure to check out other channels like Allergies in Wellness or Basic Nutrition in Nutrition or Manners in Training to learn everything you need to know about your dog's training, nutrition, and overall wellness.

And, as always, you can speak with or work with any of the Advocates on Dogly if you ever need more personalized help. Don't go through stuff alone with your dog, we're here for you!