well, i hear you, you have a valid concern,
cuz you ARE right, Dogster!!!---->once you add an embellishment to a dogs food, BAM! the clever dog now will balk at dog food without the extra meat! You could always pack a bit of hotdog or cheese to drop on top when travelling, or even a smear of peanut butter when travelling.
We wanted to raw feed, but, we realized, we could not afford it, and frankly, my guy balks at the idea, despite my frequent attempts to educate him on it.
but we compromised with each other we started addding cooked meat to every bowl,
cuz our dog was "life-threateningly" malnourished, and we wanted to jump-start his nutritional rehab, so we do always add a bit of whatever protein we ate,
Buddy gets some......fish, chicken, pork, beef, venison, eggs, turkey, whatever. We just take some and if it is spiced, we rinse it off well, and then add it to his bowl.
When we travel, we do think ahead of what lil embellishment will travel well, and do bring something along. Even a package of tuna, which is sometimes sold in very small foil containers now.
I hear you on your dog not doing well on the top shelf dog foods, my dog LIKED them, but, wowza, he got
horrible gas on all the potatoes in the "grain free" kind.
we could not stay in the same room with him!!
Buddy was one lonely dog on the "grain free" dog foods!!!
Plus, we really could not afford those top shelf "grain free" kinds.
Most of the "grain free" dog foods, are chockful of potatoes, just full of potatoes, AS IF, potatoes are somehow superior to oats or rice. Nutritionally, potatoes are pretty darn close to oats or rice, really.
We ended up feeding "Chicken soup for the dog lover's soul" which is a great dog food, but not perfect, but for the price of about a $1 a pound, it is hard to beat. It lists 4 meat or meatmeals on top of list, hard to beat, and it's made in my country.
If i could afford it, or if i had smaller dogs,
i would probably buy Orijen or Wellness dog foods, taste of the wild, or blue wilderness is good, too. Lotsa top dog foods.
Yeah, i never know what to make of the "too high of protein in dog food could damage their kidneys" either. .......first off, a dog food tends to list ALL proteins, whether or not the protein is biodegradable and absorbable to the dog....like, even leather, cardboard and corn has protein in it, but a dog fed all corn and leather would be malnourished, it is no longer biodegradable and absorbable to a dog.
Most meats are about 20% protein, odd, as you'd think it was 100% protein, but, it's not. It's mostly water.
off topic, but,
you, Dogster, are like 60% to 75% water! who knew, right?