Air Dried dog food is almost always much better than kibble, and the fact the Black Hawk Air Dried range contains 94% meat or fish tells us just that. Most kibble barely has any meat.

We know cooking food at high temperatures kills nutrients, but that’s what the kibble making process is (it’s called extrusion). Some ingredients, like meat meals are actually cooked twice at high temperatures, and usually vitamins and minerals are dusted on post-processing.

Air-dried is much better, because it doesn’t blast the nutrients with all that heat – and I’m sure you’ll see the benefit in that!

It has to be said the Black Hawk Air Dried recipe isn’t as good as the world renowned and highly reputable ZIWI Peak air dried, or America’s premium air dried brand Eureka, but it’s also cheaper, and still a better option than kibble.

I’ll explain more below…

Black Hawk Air Dried Review

The downside before the upside

Keep in mind the Black Hawk air dried recipes are 40%+ protein, 30% fat, and only 5.5% carbohydrates or less (which is fantastic compared to all kibbles), it’s worth covering a couple of small points.

Firstly, at present there are only small bags (450g), which work out more per kilo than the larger bags from ZIWI and Eureka. I expect that will change as the brand takes off (it’s still early days). If you have a small breed or simply want some tasty training treats, I doubt it will be a problem.

Secondly, it’s not so much the recipe is more basic than other air-dried dog foods, it’s the use of glycerin, maltodextrin, and lecithin. These are all in small amounts, but they’re worth considering if you want to weigh up cost versus other air dried brands.

To cover those quickly, glycerin (or glycerol) is a sugar alcohol, used as a sweetener, but also makes an air-dried pet food more moist and appealing. I see people complain about other air-dried food being “too dry”, which can become more of an issue if a dog doesn’t take to it over their regular kibble. But I expect from reading that, you’ll realise it’s not exactly a nutritious addition, and as the 3rd ingredient may mean a few percent of the formula.

Lecithin shouldn’t cause any harm unless your dog suffers dietary sensitivities. I expect it’s added as an emulsifier, so purely functional rather than nutritional.

There isn’t much maltodextrin in the recipe, but it’s a highly processed high-GI starch, and not ideal for dogs who suffer pancreatitis, obesity, diabetes, and so forth, and not great (or necessary) for dogs in general. So why is it used? Likely to bind the food and give it texture.

That’s the bad bits covered. It may have put you off, but I expect your dog won’t suffer any real issues. It’s a good example of why feeding a variety of dog foods is a good idea – it balances a diet – and it’s also a good indicator why ZIWI Peak and Eureka cost more.

Oh, and this is a low fibre dog food, so that may matter to you. Young and healthy dogs shouldn’t need much fibre when they eat the right diet of meat and organs, but older dogs can benefit from more fibre.

Now for the good bits!

We’ve covered how air-dried dog food is better than kibble, which makes me a fan of this style of feeding our dogs. It’s also really convenient compared to feeding raw or fresh foods which take up your entire freezer.

It’s a high protein, high fat food, and this is great news for a normal healthy dog – Good for health, energy, and wellbeing.

The main ingredients are meat and organs (94%+), which your dog will benefit from the most (and far more than the starchy carbs which dominate kibble recipes).

There’s a small amount of green-lipped mussel in the recipe, which is always a great addition to a dog food for joint health. Kelp is a benefit too, which looks to be a fairly insignificant inclusion, and flaxseed and inulin are beneficial in small amounts.

But that’s about it, really. Vitamins and minerals looks to be a bog standard pack or premix, and natural antioxidants – although stating the word natural – is still ambiguous. I like to know what exactly these things are, and I expect you do too?

To summarise, the Black Hawk Air Dried range may not be the best in the category, but compare this high protein, high fat food made of 94%+ meat and organs to any kibble, and it will put that kibble to shame.

Where to buy

The Black Hawk Air Dried range of dog food is available at various retailers:

Ingredients

The ingredients of Black Hawk Air Dried Dog Food (Air Dried Chicken Recipe):

Chicken, chicken liver, glycerine, essential vitamins, minerals & amino acids, lecithin, flaxseed, green-lipped mussel, inulin, sweet potato, maltodextrin, kelp, natural antioxidants.

Guaranteed analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Black Hawk Air Dried Dog Food (Air Dried Chicken Recipe):

The trade off for a high quality food is always a high price, so you need to keep that in mind. You can feed a dog food like this as part of the diet which should really boost your dog’s health, so in that sense it might be worth a try.

Let’s take a look – is Healthy Active Pet a good dog food?

Healthy Active Pet review

What the marketing says

Healthy Active Pet is the creation of Rhian Allen, an author of healthcare books for Mums and the founder of The Healthy Mummy – a leading website in healthy motherhood with a huge following. She’s quite an entrepreneur, and given her strong focus on health you can expect this dog food to be top notch.

Rhian started the brand having realised the following, which I’m sure you’ll identify with if you know anything at all about kibble and how bad it can be for our dogs:

I couldn’t believe, like so many people do, that I was feeding my pets a diet that was causing them to be ill and DECREASING their health and longevity – all thanks to the big pet food industry.

Rhian Allen

Rhian’s own dogs were suffering on kibble, in the same way many American dogs suffer on poor quality kibbles. Many of them suffering silently.

Healthy Active Pet dog food is human grade, low calorie, high protein, and jammed with nutrition.

You’ll also note none of the foods contain chicken or beef, and the reason being Rhian’s dogs were suffering chicken sensitivities. Most dog foods contain chicken, sometimes only listed as “animal fat” on the label. This makes Healthy Active Pet a very good hypoallergenic choice if your dog has any signs of itchy skin, yeasty ears, or digestive upset.

What the ingredients really say

Healthy Active Pet dog food is a combination of air-dried and freeze-dried raw, with options for complete and balanced raw (which covers all your dog’s nutritional needs) and freeze-dried treats which are great for training AND health.

The benefits of dried food over processed kibble is the nutrition remains intact. Kibble is cooked multiple times at high temperatures, and given cooking destroys nutrients they’re often dusted with vitamins and minerals after cooking. It’s far better for your dog to have a food such as Healthy Active Pet where the nutrients are unharmed – that’s the benefit of “dried raw”.

The ingredients are as good as you would expect, with the majority being turkey breast, duck gizzards, sardines, and duck liver. We find some sweet potato, pumpkins, and zucchini as well, which is where this food differs from purer whole-prey BARF patties, but dogs do benefit from these healthy additions.

It’s great to see a combination of meat and fish, as the oil, calcium, and omega fatty acids from sardines offer many health benefits for your dog. The inclusion of duck liver will also offer your dog valuable health benefits.

The good stuff doesn’t end there, as even the smaller inclusions round off the food very nicely – wheatgerm oil, organic turmeric powder, organic wheatgrass powder, and organic kelp powder. If you’re a health nut you’ll already know the benefits of these ingredients – cancer fighting, immune system boosting, digestive aids, and detoxification!

When you consider the price of a 900g bag it may seem pricy, but keep in mind being a dried food it’s equivalent to much more once rehydrated – around 3.6kg of nutrition.

If you feed this to your dog, one thing you can be sure of is their diet will be far better than yours!

Where to buy

Healthy Active Pet dog food is available to buy directly from their website.

Ingredients

Ingredients of Healthy Active Pet dog food (Complete Meal for Dogs Turkey & Sardine):

Turkey breast, duck gizzards, sardines, duck liver, sweet potato, pumpkin, zucchini, strawberries, calcium, wheatgerm oil, organic turmeric powder, organic wheatgrass powder, organic kelp powder

Guaranteed analysis

Guaranteed analysis of Healthy Active Pet dog food (Complete Meal for Dogs Turkey & Sardine):

Bugsy’s is a fantastic American brand of air dried raw dog food, and I’ll tell you why in this review.

Joanne Cooper, the lead nutritionist behind the brand, created Bugsy after the same realisations I’ve had during the course of my journey in pet food. The brand is named after her late Labrador Bugsy who passed away at the age of 17 after a long, happy, and healthy life.

In 2026, most Aussie dogs and cats are still fed processed foods. Joanne’s key observation on the way we feed our pets is as follows (in respect to rescue dogs):

The processed food eaters started to develop diseases such as kidney and liver failure, lymphoma and intestinal cancer, amongst others. Conversely, the rescues who were consuming human-grade proteins and whole foods (the group who showed no interest in processed foods) made fewer visits to the vet and generally went on to lead much longer and healthier lives.

Joanne Cooper, the Bugsy website.

Bugsy’s dog food addresses the problems of many processed dog foods. It offers you a diet far healthier for your dog – meat, organs, bones, and a range of fantastic superfoods – all with the convenience we’ve become used to with kibble.

Compared with kibble, Bugsy is undoubtedly expensive. Or to look at it another way, most pet foods are cheap for a reason.

There’s no reason you can’t feed Bugsy as a topper (sprinkle some on top of your dog’s regular food). The air dried pieces are also an excellent choice to use as training treats.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Bugsy air dried dog food review

What the marketing says

The packaging states Bugsy’s is a complete & balanced diet for dogs, and that’s inclusive all all life stages – it meets the bar for puppies and senior dogs as well as adults. That’s a good thing, as “adult only” dog foods merely scrape by with enough nutrition for an adult, and not enough for puppies and senior dogs.

Here are a few of the marketing claims on the packet:

• Human grade ingredients – Always a good selling point, especially given the dubious standards of “pet grade” knackery meats in America.
• Nutrient-rich whole foods – Which I can confirm is the case by the ingredients (read on!)
• No synthetic vitamin mix – This is a great selling point, and I’ll tell you why when we look at the ingredients.

Let’s consider the elephant in the room before we proceed – price.

We expect a good quality dog food to come at a high price compared to kibble, and this affects most of us. More so in these days of seemingly continuous price hikes.

This is why Bugsy dog food is also marketed as a “meal topper”. A topper is when you add it to your dog’s regular kibble to boost nutrition, or you can feed it as special meal once or twice a week as well.

We shouldn’t feel guilty if we can’t feed a food such as this as our dog’s main meal. We can only do our best. So, if you’re on a budget, you can still take advantage of the long shelf life of an air dried dog food like Bugsy’s and feed it as a nutritious superfood boost!

What the ingredients really say

Here’s a fun challenge for you:

Next time you’re in the supermarket take a look at the ingredients of dog foods. You’ll find almost all (if not all) have an ingredient “vitamins and minerals”. Your dog needs a range of nutrients so they don’t become deficient, and most of the time these are added as a premix. These cater for the nutrients not in the food as a whole.

To be a little clearer, most dry dog foods have the minimum amount of animal product, are filled with “empty carbohydrates” like grain or grain-free alternatives, then the nutrient deficiency is met with a vitamin and mineral mix. Most of those empty carbs are unnecessary for your dog, and likely the reason so many dogs are overweight and suffer disease in later years.

Here are the ingredients of Bugsy’s Chicken Air Dried Raw:

American Free Range Chicken, Bones and Organs, Yeast, Pumpkin, Carrot Fiber, Sunflower Lecithin, Wild Marine Algae, Camelina Oil, Maitake Mushroom, Olive Extract, Blueberries, Green Lipped Mussel, Organic Kelp (Ascophyllum Nodosum), Vinegar, Parsley & Beetroot.

You see, no need to add “vitamins and minerals” as an afterthought. They’re all included as natural ingredients in the food itself.

The main ingredients are what you would want in a diet for your dog as a facultative carnivore* – real meat, organs, and bones (ground bones).

* Yes, I consider dogs facultative carnivores despite the pet food industry using the omnivore excuse.

Given the typical analysis of 38% protein, 36% fat, and a small amount of carbs from real foods like yeast, pumpkin, carrot fibre, this really shows the emphasis on animal products combined with nutritious inclusions which will all benefit your dog.

It’s easy to understand the benefits of raw meat, organs, and bones for your dog, so let’s quickly skirt over the other inclusions too so we understand their health benefits:

• Yeast – With high levels of B vitamins and antioxidants this is good for the immune system, healthy skin, and healthy coat.
• Pumpkin – A little bit of fibre in your dog’s diet will help regulate their bowels and maintain a healthy gut. Nice firm easy-to-pass poops. Pumpkins is also rich in vitamins.
• Carrot Fibre – Just like pumpkin, this will help support digestive health.
• Sunflower Lecithin – Good for your dog’s skin & coat, and should support brain health and nervous system function.
• Wild Marine Algae – A great source of omega-3 fatty acids to help prevent joint issues. Also great for skin and coat and supporting cognitive and cardiovascular health.
• Camelina Oil – Another source of omega-3 fatty acid to further support your dog’s health.
• Maitake Mushroom – Known for its immune-boosting properties, and can help regulate blood sugar and support overall cellular health.
• Olive Extract – A good source of antioxidants to lower the risk of disease.
• Blueberries – A wonderful source of antioxidants and vitamins to support the immune system.
• Green Lipped Mussel – One of my favourite ingredients in a dog food. They’re a natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin which are great for joint health and mobility.
• Organic Kelp (Ascophyllum Nodosum) – This provides essential nutrients such as iodine for thyroid health and metabolic functions.
• Vinegar – A little vinegar can help improve digestion and support a healthy pH balance. It also has antimicrobial properties which can fight bacteria, viruses, and some parasites.
• Parsley – A source of vitamins and antioxidants which support urinary tract health. Some say parsley can freshen breath, but some raw meaty bones or dry meat chews will also work wonders in this respect.
• Beetroot – A source of nutrients and antioxidants, beetroot will help boost stamina and support liver detoxification.

I bet your diet isn’t that good. I know mine isn’t!

I would highly recommend giving Bugsy’s a try, and come back later and let me know how much your dog loved it.

Foods such as this cater for the real nutritional needs of your dog, and that’s a wonderful thing when you consider most dog foods only seem to cater for making money off the dwindling health of your pet.

Where to buy

The best place to buy Bugsy’s dog food is on their website. They have a range for cats as well, and those recipes are equally as good.

As a special offer to you, you’ll receive 10% off your first order with the button below*!

Ingredients

The ingredients of all four recipes in the Bugsy dog food range are similar. For the purpose of this review we have looked at the Air Dried Chicken formula:

American Free Range Chicken, Bones and Organs, Yeast, Pumpkin, Carrot Fiber, Sunflower Lecithin, Wild Marine Algae, Camelina Oil, Maitake Mushroom, Olive Extract, Blueberries, Green Lipped Mussel, Organic Kelp (Ascophyllum Nodosum), Vinegar, Parsley & Beetroot

Typical Analysis

The typical analysis of Bugsy Air Dried Chicken for dogs (based on dry matter once dried):

* Please note I will receive a commission if this coupon code is used (which helps me keep Pet Food Judge up and running, so thank you).