Meaning

noun an intelligent dog with a heavy curly solid-colored coat that is usually clipped; an old breed sometimes trained as sporting dogs or as performing dogs

originFrom German Pudel, a shortened form of Pudelhund, a compound of Hund (“dog”) and the German Low German term Pudel, Pūdel (“puddle”), from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”). First attested in 1773 in the noun sense 1. The verb sense references the appearance a poodle with shaved legs, displaying its skin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0