Is grass-fed lamb dog food worth the extra money?

Lamb is more expensive than chicken to buy, and in New Zealand it competes with a strong export market, so any food built on real lamb is going to cost more per kilo. That part isn't marketing, it's just the meat price.

Whether the extra money is worth it comes down to what you're actually buying. Two bags can both say grass-fed lamb on the front and be genuinely different products: one with lamb as the first ingredient and a short list of named additions, the other with a modest amount of lamb propped up by cheap plant protein to hit the protein number on the label. Same claim, very different bowl.

The other thing worth factoring in is how much you feed. A food with real meat and decent digestibility often means smaller daily portions than a cheaper bag, so the price per kilo and the price per day aren't the same figure. Work out what a month actually costs before deciding anything is too expensive.

And there's the part nobody puts in a spreadsheet: dogs tend to eat food like this with obvious enthusiasm. If mealtime stops being a negotiation, that counts for something.