If you own a Blue Heeler, you know these dogs are intelligent, playful, and energetic. Because of their energy level, you want to ensure your Blue Heeler gets the best quality dog food available. These active canines need protein, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients from grains and vegetables. But with all the different recipes and brands of dog food on the market, it can be hard to know which food is the best choice for your Blue Heeler.

To help you out, we have put together a list of the nine best choices for dog food for your best friend. Read on to learn more about the recommended foods.

A Glance at Our Winners (2024 Update)

The 9 Best Dog Foods for Blue Heelers

1. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Dog Food — Best Overall

It’s easy to recommend Blue Buffalo’s Life Protection food for almost any dog, and that includes Blue Heelers. We found this food to be the best overall choice for blue heeler dog food because of its high-quality ingredients and balanced nutrition. This kibble’s ingredients list is topped by real meats and meat products, with a range of whole grains that add nutrients and delicious vegetables filling it out. Extra nutrition comes from LifeSource Bits, a unique nutrient blend that completes your dog’s balanced diet.

Although this is an all-around good food, be aware that this food does provide some protein from plants, notably pea protein. It also has several whole grains that are generally healthy, but some dogs may do better on grain-free diets.

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2. American Journey Active Life Formula Dog Food — Best Value

Blue Heelers are high-energy dogs, but you don’t need to break the bank to keep them fueled. We found American Journey Active Life Formula to be the best dog food for your money when it comes to Blue Heelers. This food is high in protein and fat, with 25% crude protein and 15% crude fat, making it ideal for active or working Heelers. This food option is built on a strong base of fresh ingredients, including some of the most nutrient-rich plants like blueberries and sweet potatoes, which provide natural antioxidants, calcium, and thiamine, all important for a healthy life.

This food does contain some plant-based proteins, which are a little less digestible for dogs. Because this is an active formula, it isn’t ideal for all dogs—if your dog struggles with obesity or is becoming less active as it ages, you may want to switch to less fatty dog food or cut down portion sizes.

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3. Nom Nom Turkey Fare Fresh Dog Food Subscription — Premium Choice

Your Blue Heeler might not be a picky eater, but that doesn’t mean she won’t appreciate being pampered. Nom Nom is the perfect premium dog food for showing your dog the high life. Nom Nom is a subscription-based dog food service that delivers fresh, small-batch meals directly to your door on a timetable you choose. The subscription service is both a pro and a con—it takes all the hassle out of feeding, but it does mean that you can’t just throw an order into your cart and try it. That said, we love Nom Nom’s service and many of its recipes.

One of our favorite Nom Nom meals is their Turkey Fare. It has a balanced blend of ground meat, vitamin-rich veggies, easy-to-digest whole grains, and added vitamins and minerals. Their turkey fare has brown rice as the main grain, which is a great choice for sensitive stomachs. And with 10% crude protein, 5% crude fat, and 72% moisture, this food is both delicious and healthy compared to other wet foods. Because the food comes fresh, it does need to be stored in the freezer and thawed, which makes storage a little more complicated, but when your dog tastes this food, it will all be worth it.

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4. Wellness Complete Health Puppy — Best Puppy Food

Up until your Heeler is about one year old, they’ll benefit from a puppy-formulated meal. Puppy-formulated foods have extra vitamins and a higher fat and protein content to help them grow. We love Wellness Complete Health Puppy because it is packed with great natural sources of vitamins, including spinach, sweet potatoes, and blueberries. Vitamins are absorbed more easily when they’re found in fresh food instead of added later, so having so many natural ingredients is a good sign.

This dog food is high in protein and fat, mostly coming from chicken, so your puppy will stay fueled all day long. It does include a little bit of plant-based protein in the form of peas. The food also includes a small amount of garlic in it. Research is mixed on garlic, which can cause stomach trouble in larger doses but may be beneficial in smaller ones.

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5. Victor Purpose Senior Dog Food

As a medium-sized dog, your Heeler will probably enter his senior years at around ten years of age. As your dog gets older, his metabolism will slow, and he’ll need more of certain vitamins that help prevent common aging problems like arthritis. Senior-formulated foods will help keep your dog happy and healthy even as fur grays.

Victor Purpose Senior Dog Food is a great option because it is specially formulated for seniors, with a balance of fat and protein that will help your dog as he ages. This comes mostly from chicken, although there is also some plant protein. It also includes glucosamine and chondroitin, two compounds that promote joint health. This is great for Heelers because they have a tendency towards joint problems as they age. This isn’t the best food for every dog, though. Some senior dogs may struggle with dry food or grain digestion as they age, requiring a more specialized diet.

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6. Taste of the Wild High Prairie Grain-Free Adult Dry Food

Taste of the Wild High Prairie Food lets your dog live on something a little different than most of the options on this list. With water buffalo as the first ingredient and many other meat sources, including lamb, chicken, bison, venison, and beef, this dog food has a wide variety of proteins that give the food flavor and nutrients. This variety also extends to plant matter. This food doesn’t have grains, but it is full of other plants that add vitamins, antioxidants, and other things. This food is full of fatty acids, chelated minerals, prebiotics, and probiotics that fortify your dog’s health.

The main plant fillers that replace grains are potatoes and peas, both of which do have some less-usable protein, but they still work well to support the meat-based diet. Although this variety is great for most dogs, if your dog is allergy-prone, this is a less desirable food because it contains so many different plant and protein ingredients.

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7. Instinct Original Grain-Free Real Chicken Recipe Natural Wet Canned Dog Food

Some pups need something a little more substantial than kibble. Whether it is the low moisture content or the texture of dry food that turns your dog off, canned food can be a great substitute despite the stronger smell. Instinct Original Grain-Free Real Chicken recipe is made with cage-free chicken and real turkey as its main ingredient—it boasts of being 95% meat, 5% veggies and vitamins, and 0% grain.

The grain-free formula is great for dogs with sensitive stomachs, and its smooth pate texture makes it a great choice for dogs with dental issues. It doesn’t include any of the common fillers like peas and potatoes, keeping the focus on meat and a few vegetables like pumpkin, cranberries, and broccoli. One drawback of this option is that it comes in small packs of only six cans.

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8. Victor Purpose Nutra Pro Active Dog Formula

If your Heeler is a “work hard, play hard” kind of dog, you’ll want to get an active-dog-specific food like Victor Purpose Nutra Pro Active Dog Formula. Active formulas have a higher level of protein than most dog foods, supporting your dog’s lean muscles and giving them energy that will last all day. It’s packed with healthy protein—in fact, it’s 92% meat product. It contains some whole grains, but it is a little lighter on fruits and vegetables, with the main vegetables being tomato and carrot powders.

If you choose to feed your dog this formula, make sure to watch carefully, as it’s easy to overfeed your dog on a protein and fat-heavy dog food like this. This food isn’t ideal for less active dogs, so you’ll have to watch carefully to avoid obesity.

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9. American Journey Chicken & Turkey Recipe Grain-Free Canned Dog Food

Another great canned food is American Journey Chicken & Turkey Recipe. This canned food has a high moisture content that makes it a great choice for dogs that struggle with eating kibble. It’s also cheaper than many other canned foods of similar quality, making it an economical choice. This food has a balanced, protein-based diet with mostly high-quality chicken and turkey protein. The main plant matter is potato, which isn’t the worst nor the best vegetable option, as it adds some lower-quality protein to the recipe and doesn’t have many of the vitamins necessary.

This food relies on added vitamins and minerals to make up for it. Like many canned foods, it has a stronger odor that dogs love, but some reviewers reported it took some getting used to. Overall, it’s a great choice for some owners but not for everyone.

Buyer’s Guide: Picking the Best Dog Food for Blue Heelers

Your Heeler’s Food Needs

All dogs have similar nutritional needs, but differences in breeds can make some diets better than others. Blue Heelers need a diet of high-quality proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to be healthy. They also need lots of vitamins and minerals. Protein is healthiest when it comes from meat sources, not plant matter—so dog foods with a high amount of pea or potato protein are less healthy than foods that rely on all meat protein. In the same way, fresh fruits and vegetables like sweet potatoes, berries, spinach, and carrots are better sources of vitamins and minerals than supplements. Looking for dog food with a wide variety of natural ingredients is a great way to start.

As your dog ages, the exact balance of proteins, fats, and carbs shifts. Younger dogs need more protein and fat, while older dogs need less, especially when it comes to fat. Puppy and senior formulas are made to match those needs.

Heelers are especially prone to joint and skeletal problems. Some specific nutrients, like calcium, glucosamine, and chondroitin, are helpful in promoting joint and skeletal health. You can look out for foods with these added, especially as your dog gets older.

Wet vs Dry Food

One of the biggest decisions to make when it comes to dog food is whether to pick wet food or dry food. They both have pros and cons. Dry food is more nutrient-dense, with less water content. That can be good for helping your dog get a hearty meal, but some dogs struggle to stay hydrated with dry food. The texture is a big difference, too. Some dogs prefer wet foods and struggle to eat solid foods, especially as they get older. Wet foods often come in a variety of textures, including stews, chunks, and pates.

Is Grain-Free Good for Dogs?

Over the past few years, grain-free foods have become more popular, but results are mixed. It’s pretty clear that many types of grains, like corn, soy, and processed wheat, don’t have much nutritional value. Grains are also a common allergen and irritant for sensitive stomachs, making a grain-free diet safer for some pups. But there is also a growing body of evidence that whole grains are healthy for dogs and may prevent some health problems.

Many grain-free foods don’t have a higher meat content; they just replace the grains with cheap vegetables like potatoes. A recent FDA study looked at grain-free diets in dogs and suggested that they correlate with a higher rate of heart health problems. Overall, a grain-free diet is less important than a balanced, healthy diet.

Conclusion

We hope these reviews help you find the right food for your Blue Heeler. As you can see, there isn’t one perfect dog food for every situation. Blue Buffalo Life Protection is the best food overall, but American Journey Active Life Formula is the best value option. If you want premium food, Nom Nom’s Turkey Fare is a great choice. Puppies will do best on a puppy-formulated food like Wellness Complete Health Puppy.

Related Read:

• 10 Best Dog Foods for Basset Hounds – Reviews & Top Picks
• 10 Best Dog Foods for Dalmatians – Reviews & Top Picks
• Best Senior Dog Foods for Small Breeds – Reviews & Top Picks

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Featured Image Credit: lifesnap, Shutterstock