LOL, guys/gals, that obvious reserve of dog chow never even occurred to me. Reminds me of the time when a travelling salesman wouldn't get out of his vehicle because the hounds (Great Danes) were barking at him ... and when I came to the rescue, he tried very hard to sell me a driveway alarm system. Well, duh! :-)

I normally have a few bags of dog food around, since I usually buy several at a time. The Danes go through 40 lbs. in about a week, though (not including travelling salesmen).

I've had a lot of dogs over the years, and they're more omnivorous than most people realize. At least country-raised dogs are. My dogs, who are definitely not starving, will eat green grass, berries and apples, peas, carrots, and potatoes raw and cooked. They'll sneak into the garden and steal stuff when you're not looking. We have to put an electric fence around our garden to keep them out.

A few years back, when we were trying to save money, I bought several bags of "pig starter" which was barley, soy, canola oil, and vitamin/mineral supplements, and about $7.00 for 40 lbs. I'd cook up a batch on the wood stove every morning, and they would nose the commercial dog food out of the way to get to it. It didn't go rancid, even after a year's storage. And it smelled pretty darn good -- I was tempted to try some for breakfast.

Just some observations and ideas.