Review Summary

Blackwood is a pet food company founded on the premise that slow-cooking food in small batches preserves the most nutrients, to give your pets nutritionally dense food for energy and stamina. In every bowl of Blackwood pet food, you’ll find high-quality proteins, essential fats, and excellent sources of fiber to give your pet the best nutrition possible.

We rate this company highly because they have pet food for dogs of all sizes and stages of life, so you’re sure to find a food that meets your pet’s specific needs. Read on to learn more about Blackwood, its slow-cooking process, and the ingredients in its dog food.

At a Glance: The Best Blackwood Dog Food Recipes

Blackwood Dog Food Reviewed

Blackwood is a pet food brand that focuses on slow-cooking small batches of food, to increase the energy and stamina levels of pets through nutrition preservation. If you cook pet food ingredients too quickly, or at too high heat, important nutrients are lost. By using slow-cooking methods in small batches, Blackwood provides a more nutritionally dense food for pets.

Who Makes Blackwood Dog Food? Where is it Produced?

Jim Golladay and his family began Blackwood forty years ago at a small feed mill  in Rogers, Ohio, before moving their main operations to Lisbon, Ohio. Blackwood focuses on slow cooking all pet foods to create a higher starch conversion, which translates to higher energy levels and stamina for pets. Mr. Golladay’s three children continue to run the business at the Lisbon location, in addition to locations in Kiel, Wisconsin, and Sherburne, New York.

Which Type of Dogs is Blackwood Best Suited For?

Blackwood is suitable for all types of dogs. They have a wide variety of dry and wet foods available for even the pickiest of eaters. Their food formulas range from puppy to adult to senior, as well as a line of all life stages formulas. Blackwood also produces a variety of tasty treats for dogs.

Which Type of Dog Might Do Better with a Different Brand?

Owners that have dogs with sensitive skin and stomach issues know it can be difficult to find a dog food brand that doesn’t cause itching or stomach upset. Blackwood offers three sensitive formulas with salmon, catfish, or lamb, but some dogs may need to try a different brand.

Hill’s Science Diet Dry Dog Food Sensitive Stomach & Skin may be another option to help dogs experiencing skin and stomach issues that aren’t helped by Blackwood’s sensitive dog food formulas.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients (Good and Bad)

Blackwood uses chicken meal, lamb meal, salmon meal, buffalo meal, catfish meal, and whitefish meal in their dog food formulas. They also use vegetables and fruits to provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, such as dried cranberries, dried blueberries, pumpkin meal, spinach, watercress, lettuce, and more. Brown rice, oat groats, millet, and ground grain sorghum are just a few of the fiber sources that can be found in their formulas.

Blackwood tries to source its ingredients from the United States, but if there are supply issues, the company sources ingredients from trusted suppliers in New Zealand, Canada, and more. No ingredients are sourced from China.

Brown Rice as a Source of Fiber

Blackwood uses brown rice in many of its formulas as it’s a natural source of fiber, which helps improve the pet’s digestion. It also is a good source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B and vitamin D, which help to maintain heart health.

Pumpkin as a Superfood Ingredient

Many of the Blackwood dog food formulas contain pumpkin meal, which aids digestion. Pumpkin contains minerals like iron and potassium, which are known to help improve the overall health of a dog’s nerves and muscles. Pumpkin is also a great source of vitamins A, C, and E, to help your pet get the nutrients it needs.

Pea Protein / Grain Free Formulas

Some of Blackwood’s formulations include pea protein, which, according to the FDA, may contribute to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs. The company uses pea protein as a source of essential amino acids, providing necessary vitamins and minerals to dogs. However, vegetable proteins, such as peas and other legumes, lack an important amino acid called taurine that helps the intestines absorb fats, such as cholesterol, and aids blood pressure to maintain a healthy heart. Some brands of dog food use only peas or legumes to provide protein in dog food, thus not providing the dog with the essential amino acid of taurine.

Blackwood ensures a higher percentage of protein (60%) comes from meat proteins, rather than pea or legume proteins, to reduce the risk of DCM and maintain taurine levels up to .15% in their food formulas.

A Quick Look at Blackwood Dog Food

Recall History

Blackwood has been in business for over 40 years and hasn’t had a single recall on their food—making it a trusted name and pet food supplier.

Reviews of the 3 Best Blackwood Dog Food Recipes

Let’s take a closer look at three of the most popular Blackwood dog food formulas:

Blackwood Everyday Diet Adult Dry Dog Food – Our Favorite

The Chicken Meal & Rice Recipe from Blackwood is an easy-to-digest everyday dry dog food that delivers excellent nutrition in every bite. Each small batch contains 24.5% Crude Protein, which is mainly comprised of premium chicken meal protein. This popular dry food contains dried cranberries, pumpkin meal, dried apple pomace, and dried blueberries to create a well-balanced diet.

The recipe also includes many healthy grains, such as brown rice, oat groats, millet, and ground grain sorghum. It also contains probiotics to help aid digestion. Pea flour is listed as an ingredient, which could be an issue for dogs with pea sensitivities.

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Blackwood Large Breed Adult Dry Dog Food

The Whitefish Meal & Oatmeal recipe combines delicious whitefish, and a variety of grains to bring healthy nutrition to every bowl. The Crude Protein of this Blackwood formulation is 24.0%, comprised primarily of whitefish, including haddock, pollock, and cod. The food contains duck meal as well, so the food’s protein is derived from two different sources.

The dry food contains a variety of grains, including oatmeal, pearled barley, brown rice, rice bran, and ground grain sorghum. Vegetables are also incorporated into this dry food, including carrots, beets, watercress, and spinach to name a few. Pumpkin meal and probiotics are added to help aid digestion.

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Blackwood Sensitive Skin & Stomach Formula Dry Dog Food

The Salmon Meal & Brown Rice Recipe helps dogs that are experiencing stomach and sensitive skin issues related to diet. The main protein in this food is salmon meal, and the overall Crude Protein comes in at 24.5%.  The salmon meal in the food provides amino and fatty acids to aid in digestion, improve the condition of the skin and coat, and support the immune system.

This recipe doesn’t contain any chicken or chicken by-products, so dogs with chicken allergies contributing to their digestion issues shouldn’t have any issues. Additional ingredients include brown rice, oat groats, millet, and ground grain sorghum—all heart-healthy grains. A variety of vitamins and minerals, plus probiotics, are added to each small batch to support overall nutrition and health. The downside to this food is the potential for some dogs to develop a fishy odor from eating salmon.

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What Other Users Are Saying

Conclusion

Blackwood’s slow-cooked small batches of dog food are nutritionally dense, providing your pet with plenty of energy and stamina for every adventure life has to offer.

Our favorite formula is Blackwood Everyday Diet Dry Dog Food because it is a well-rounded food with the ever-popular chicken as its primary source of protein. Blackwood Large Breed Dry Dog Food is sure to please dogs that enjoy good fish-based dog food. For dogs with skin and stomach sensitivities, the Blackwood Sensitive Skin & Stomach Formula supports their coat, skin, and is easy on the stomach.

Blackwood is a brand that stands behind the science of its food processing, and your beloved pet will surely reap the benefits.

See also:

• Can Dogs Eat Lamb?
• Can Dogs Eat Slim Jims?

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Featured Image Credit: Blackwood, Amazon