Cutting back on food amounts

I guess the only comment I can make is...chicken breasts are good for you but if you eat 10 a day you will gain weight, if you cut back on the amount of food you're eating every day you are still getting your nutrients just not as many calories....so, i guess if your dog is gaining weight or keeping their weight with the amount of food you're feeing then they are getting the nutrients they need. wow!  that's confusing lol that probably made absolutely no sense.

It's proportions, not amounts. Dogs need a certain amount of energy, which is properly provided in the form of a balance of macronutrients and micronutrients.

They do need a certain quantity of nutrients, but there's a very wide variance allowable for those figures for most breeds.

If you think about it, the small dog may weigh 3 pounds and eat 1/2 cup of Purina, while my Maremma weighs 125 pounds and eats 8 cups. The small dog is 1/41 the size of my Maremma but eats 1/16 as much. That's a huge difference. Meanwhile, my 18 pound Border collie would have eaten the same amount as my Maremma to maintain condition. My Maremma weighs almost 7 times as much but eats the same amount.

I've mentioned before how tricky the nutrient balance is on sheep. When I calculate those tricky micronutrients, however, it's per pound of feed, not per head. Feed amounts are then offered based on energy needs. I imagine it's the same with pet feed, but with more even more lattitude with regard to micronutrients.