Dog & Toddler

Why the puppy only listens to your daughter is not really a matter of the puppy not seeing you as "boss in the house", but because she's figured out where the really good snacks come from. Since a three year old human really isn't old enough to be a 100% reliable partner in training a new puppy or dog, your best bet is to utilize management techniques to keep this situation from happening.

The puppy should be fed (at this age, probably three times per day) on a regular schedule & in a specific place (her crate or puppy pen?) well away from the humans' eating area. When your daughter is at the table eating, utilize some sort of barrier (baby gate, etc) that prohibits the pup from getting anywhere near the table. It could be really helpful, especially at first, to provide the pup with a nice, long lasting chew (bully stick, stuffed Kong, or such) in her place of confinement so she starts to understand that being separated from the table & NOT getting food from your daughter is equally enjoyable.

I wouldn't expect any three year to be up to the responsibility of training a dog, but you're not out of luck! I agree with BKaymuttleycrew - the dog isn't seeing her as the 'boss', but rather just as someone who's a source of goodies and therefore worth paying attention to. All you need to do is build a relationship like that between you and the dog, where you focus heavily on rewarding good behavior with tasty treats.

Definitely find some way to confine the pup while your daughter has food so you can break the habit of food sharing at the table. Both because it's rude and likely to get worse if it's allowed to continue and because human food can be bad for dogs and, in some cases, make them seriously ill. You can try explaining this to your daughter as she may be more motivated to stop sneaking the dog treats if she understands it might make the dog feel sick.

Does your poodle really like their dog food? Mine sure does! If this is the case, you can start building your relationship with your puppy's meals. Just take a handful of kibbles each meal and do some really simple exercises. My favorite to begin with is just to say the puppy's name, then give them a treat. Repeat a few times. Over time, this will teach the dog to immediately stop what they're doing and focus on you when you say their name. A great tool to help interrupt naughty behaviors! Pick some really simple behaviors, like sit or touching their nose to your hand, and work on teaching your dog how to do these with treats. This will help your dog learn that you're worth listening to and how to interact with you to earn that valuable reinforcement. If your puppy isn't that impressed with kibble, replace a small amount of their daily kibble (maybe around 10%) with treats cut into small bites, like plain cooked chicken breast, little bites of cheese, etc. only about as large as your pinky nail, and use those to train the same way.

This is a really good video covering a lot of basic, easy behaviors that are important for puppies to learn and how to train them: