Ok, so I have been corresponding with the "reviewers" of the dog foods on the
Dog Food Reviews Website and they gave me this information regarding the protein content in most dog foods these days. I found it very interesting! Maybe you will too:
Since dogs have evolved on a diet that's a good 55-65% protein from living in the wild, it is difficult to consider the amounts in modern dry food as "high". And while lower protein diets have been prescribed in the past for dogs with kidney problems, there's a growing school of thought that suggests it is not the
amount of protein at issue, but the
quality. Plant proteins are substantially inferior and less digestible than meat proteins. That still applies only to animals with existing kidney problems, of course. Protein in the diet isn't the cause of the kidney problems. There is a lot of online material that can be worth browsing on the topic (and as is the case with all medical issues, new information changes perceptions).
As for what is needed in the diet... Well, for inactive dogs it can
actually be a better idea to feed a food higher in meat content and lower
in carbohydrates. That is because dogs evolved eating a diet that did not
contain much carbohydrate, and they've no evolved need of them. Thus, in
the absence of being able to process carbs easily, they convert readily to
fat stores. That is one reason why "lite" foods that cut meat content in
favour of grains are often counterproductive. Here's one
online article
about the role of carbohydrates in dog food. It's not the be-all and
end-all of views on the subject by any means, but it's useful in that it
covers both the veterinary and manufacturer perspectives.