During the life of your poodle you will probably experiment with many different foods, and treats.When you take your poodle puppy home, I will send a bag of the food that they have been eating so that you can avoid a sudden change and consequent dietary upsets. At that time you may start adding the food of your choice, a little more of yours and a little less of mine, at each feeding and soon your puppy will be accustomed to the new food. I like to send a gallon of our drinking water for you to use and each time you pour some for the puppy fill the bottle with your water. At the end of a week, the puppy will be drinking only your water and should have adjusted to the change without any problems.
Do some research and you will find that there are many really good dry foods available and some ready made treats. I always look for the first ingredient in the dry food to be a protein such as chicken, beef, fish etc. It is believed to be best to avoid dry foods with flour and cornmeal. Also, watch the labels for the preservatives and observe caution. All dog foods are not created equal!!!
Many people believe in a raw diet and the health benefits to be gained from it. There are commercially available raw diets that you can order and keep frozen until needed. An easier way to do it is to feed raw chicken wings,gizzards, and beef liver . These you could supplement with table scraps such as potatoes,beans,broccoli,carrots etc. Just be careful and be sure you have done your homework and don't feed anything that is dangerous to dogs such as grapes,chocolate etc. I include a list of these items in my puppy packet. I free feed my puppies dry food and give them raw chicken wings and raw carrots and celery to chew. You can feed your puppy raw apples, sliced, also. You are probably saying, "I've always heard not to give a dog any chicken bones". That is true for cooked bones, whether chicken or another meat. Many bones can splinter and pierce their esophogus or stomach. However, when fed raw, chicken wings, backs necks and turkey necks are safe. These are a wonderful source of protein, calcium and are great for the digestive tract. With the raw meat and bones and raw vegetables you will probably not ever need to have your dogs anal glands expressed. (But that is another subject!)
I have found that my dogs get bored with the same diet day in and day out, just like I do!! So, periodically I change the dry food and I always vary the type of meat and veggies I give them to keep it interesting. Of course all of this is not necessary. They would do perfectly well on a good dry food and nothing else. I just do the rest because I love to eat so much that it gives me pleasure to see them really enjoying a new food.
You can always used a canned food but since they are all about 70% water I don't feel it is a good value. I also sometimes order a loaf that looks like a big sausage. It's called Red Barn and it comes in chicken/liver or beef. I slice this and cut each slice into quarters or smaller and use for treats or when I feel my dogs need a real nutrition boost such as when my females are gestating,whelping or nursing. This can be used as the main food also.
Many of the treats on the market smell so strong of preservatives that I recoil at the thought of giving them to my dogs. Some are worse than others. For chewing pleasure, which is really a high priority during teething time (3-7 mos. or so) I like to order Bully Sticks by the box online. They are kind of expensive but they are very healthy and a safe chew. You can sometimes find these at the pet stores but they are sold individually and cost about $3.00 each. Online you can find suppliers who have sales going on and get them by the box of 50 or 100 for a much better price. For multiple dog families this is a necessity. Also, you can make your own treats by dehydrating liver, chicken or beef. If you don't have a dehydrator you can just do it in your oven.
Take the meat when it is still slightly frozen and slice into thin pieces or cut into small cubes and lay out onto a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 200 until sufficiently dried out.
I never worry about my dogs getting fat because they are very active and run all of those calories off. Also, when they are getting a good quality protein source, they aren't tempted to overeat.
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