Epic was raised on Royal Canin and I kept him on it for a few weeks with me, before gradually changing him onto Naturediet Puppy, which is just what I prefered to feed as the others are on N/Diet too.
However I know a lot of sheltie breeders in the UK feed Royal Canin and swear by it. One thing to remember with dry food is that the water intake will be higher so you will need to ensure that she has access to water most of the time if she needs it. Do you mean James Wellbeloved? I have fed that in the past with no problems and it is a good food.
Given the choice most dogs prefer moist to dry food and some manufactures produce 'toppers' for dry food which defeats the object IMO. I wonder if the nutritionist meant it wasn't good to mix wet and dry, as that means the nutritional balance she is getting isn't correct.
It is not so much whether the food is dry or wet as to what goes into it that is important. Generally, the better foods are more expensive but the flip side is that in the long run it could save money on vets, suppliments etc. Not all foods suit all dogs either. Mine do well on Naturediet but different flavours for different dogs as Yogi struggles to digest Chicken. Merlin cannot eat Naturediet as it gives him an upset tum but he is thriving on Chappie original (a cheap, plain food that suits a lot of dogs with digestive issues) so it's horses for courses. It's also what suits your pocket and lifestyle. Much as I would like to give raw feeding a go, I haven't the space or time to commit properly to it. A lot of people who compete and travel need something that doesn't go off quickly and is easy to feed and transport so dry food is their preference. When I did a lot of shows, I would have mine on dry food during the peak of the show season then back to moist when things quietened down.
If you want to try moist food, the ones I would recommend that mine and other shelties do well on are Naturediet and Nauuresmenu. There are other similar varieties available too but these seem to be the most suitable for shelties. They are very easy to feed as come in plastic trays which you can just divide up with a knife to the quantity required. I think Epic was eating about 3/4 of a pack of Puppy at about 8 months. Natures Menu also do raw nuggets which is an easy way of feeding a raw diet. Fish 4 Dogs makes dry food which could also be worth a go. As a puppy, Revel had tripe and mixer, old fashioned but he did fantastically on it. It was cooked until he was 7-8 months then I fed it raw. I don't have them on it now purely due to storage and the smell is a bit off putting in large quantities!
Shelties don't seem to cope well with 'rich' food so those tiny trays with gravy are probably best avoided though.
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