Hi
Stacer 
. I'm glad Skylar has a doggie cousin she gets along with well
.
Our extended family used to laugh at me a lot too
when the topic of nutrition came up. I remember when I first talked about it with one of my SIL's and she told me she'd take her vet's word over mine any time
. That was about 1 1/2 years ago, about the time I joined this forum and started to learn more about animal nutrition. My SIL's been spending more time at our home the last several months and has been here during feeding times. I guess her curiosity finally piqued when she asked why do I really feed Orijen to our foster pups (I feed our adults raw). I just picked up a bag and explained the ingredients to her. We then went online to find the ingredients of Royal Canin and compared the two brands. She freaked when we went to dogfoodproject.com and read about the ingredients to stay away from, especially when she realized she was paying even more for a lesser quality food.
Today, at her request, I picked up Pheonix's first bag of Orijen
.
Sometimes ppl just don't want to hear that they haven't done the appropriate research, if any, and may be inadvertently/unintentionally causing their dogs harm by feeding them lesser quality foods. Rather than giving it any further thought, it may be easier to just laugh at the person giving them advice/info.
So what I do now is not bring up the topic. I let others bring it up when they see the bag of food on the counter. Usually, friends with pets don't recognize the brand and start to ask questions about it. Or, when friends compliment our dogs' teeth and coats, I reply it's because of the great quality food I feed them. That leads to more questions where I then have the opportunity to teach and refer them to appropriate websites and books for more info. I also bring treats, usually in the form of kibble, when I go visit their homes. Even the pickiest of eaters go nuts when they try the kibble we have. That, too, leads to questions, and more opportunities to educate without coming across as "a crazy activist."