"-- he liked dog even better than elk."
Of course he did, 'cause it was probably cooked by the tribe they were passing through.
I don't think they took dogs along on their trek. Nor, would there be "wild dogs" to hunt, unless you are talking about wolf or coyote.
The tribal feast would have been the first western diners for passing tourists.
Of course, dogs performed many functions for some tribes, such as security alarms and pulling travious, before horses
were introduced to the Americas.
That reminds me...in the movie Hidalgo, Viggo Mortenson's character explains that the Lakota (Sioux) word for horse is translated as meaning "Big Dog".
Because the Lakota who first encountered the Spainiards had never seens horses before.
Actually, Meriwether Lewis did take a along a Newfoundland (which he had purchased for $20 in 1803). The dog's name was Seaman and he was adopted by the whole Corps of Discovery and referred to as "Our Dog".
The book, Undaunted Courage, is fascinating. I had no idea of the hardships faced by the Corps during their exploration.
Lewis brought his newfoundland - Scannon. The expedition ate and traded both dog and horse, even leather shirts and moccasins after nearly starving in the bitteroot mountains. Deer, Elk, even Grizzly are more or less plains animals, the mountains in those days were nearly devoid of game in the wintertime.