The subject was first mentioned by Jennifer on the Hiking and Backpacking thread but I kinda wanted to expand on it without cluttering that thread. She mentioned using freeze dried food while on the trail to save weight. Freeze dried is an interesting thought and I was wondering if adding something high quality like freeze dried would be good as a nutrition booster while doing the long trips. We used to bump our hunting dogs up to a high output performance food when we would take them out of state hunting because the trips were so rigorous. Would some kind of food supplement be good to add in for very strenuous trips? We won't be carrying the dog food so weight isn't a factor, purely nutrition to keep them in top form on the trail. Kenzi has a habit of not wanting to eat kibble the first night out on the road and is iffy with days after that. I am feeding TOTW now, so a decent food, but when we went out last year I noticed some definite changes in their desire to eat kibble and their poops suffered. I am still fairly new to doing longer hikes with dogs so telling what is normal and what is avoidable changes is something I am still working on. Mine are used to around 5 miles a day and while we step up our mileage as a trip draws near it is still nothing near doing 10+ miles a day. Curious what you all think or is TOTW good enough and it's not worth the change for this hiking length. We will be doing 10+ a day for at least 5 days.

Jenn,
are you backpacking, or car camping with 10+ miles a day, day hiking?
we feed TOTW and Jack also is a picky eater the morning of a hike and does not eat. They each pack 2 cups of TOTW with them in their packs, they get a summit meal and then one when we get back to the car. the extra 2 cups is for just in case.
for their trail treats they get jerky of all kinds, fish, chicken, beef. its light and packs the fat and protein into a small space for on the trail food, i have specific trail treats for then that i pay more for. sometimes costco will have some items that are USA not "treated" that i pick up, but mostly there is a local lady at the farmers market that i pick up items from for hiking.
we don't backpack, something i want to do. and when we do it i will be buying freeze dried food for them to pack and eat. making sure i rotate it into their diet a few weeks a head of time to make sure they don't get sick, im pretty lucky that i can switch their food and not have bathroom issues.

Jenn - We feed TOTW, too and Ami never eats well on trips. He's just so excited and curious...I usually end up hand feeding at the end of the day. And supplementing during the day with the protein and veg parts of our meals. I figure he's not going to become emaciated in a week or 2. We always bring back at least half the food we pack.

We will be car camping I think. We will have a tent and things we will put up at a camp ground then we will go out and run trails all day and return to the site. I offer food at lunch which Kenzi won't eat, then again in the evening that she might eat half of. She drinks lots of water just doesn't eat as much food as seems she should for how many calories she is burning. Keno eats great. Last year she ate intermittently the whole trip until nearly the end when I think she just had to break down and eat to keep moving. My two don't have issues with switching food either. Not sure if maybe food as equally exciting as the trip is would do better to get her to eat and keep her strength up.