feeding my toy poodle

Question
What is the best dry dog food for my toy poodle? He's 10 months old and we had him on a dry dog food from Nutro,one that was not recalled but because some of the brand was recalled we swithced. Now we are feeding him Purina Pro Plan. I heard that corn is harder to digest for dogs and when I looked it up after buying it, it said that there is corn in the Purina dog food we bought. With all the food that has been recalled, I'm really nervous about what to buy. Any suggestions?
Also, my pup barks at any noise he hears outside the door. We live in an apartment so there's always people going up and down the stairs. We try saying 'no' but he pays no attention so we pick him up and try to distract him but that doesn't work either. He is super friendly and gets plenty of time outside and around other people and dogs. I don't understand why he barks so much! Please help! Thanks in advance.  

Answer
The recall thing is horrendous.  Let me reassure you I have very good cause to feel that at least Pro Plan chicken and rice is safe.  It is the chow of choice for the large dog guide school I volunteer for.  I can't describe the disaster it would be heir thousands of working dogs to be eating an unsafe chow plus their puppies and breeding stock.  I am sure they have a very close relationship with Purina and would hear about any problem before the general public.  Some of the Purina products were recalled too.  However, none of the major manufacturers have recalled any of their high volume, dry chows.  Since you have switched, I would stick with it.  

There all sorts of fear mongering kooks out there.  I argue with them all the time.  here is some material I have posted many times.  


Suppose you knew a breeder that bred hundreds of dogs a year, mostly Labs, Shepherds, and Goldens.  They provided all the medical care for most of them the first year.  At the end of it, they did a complete physical including hip X-rays on all of them.  They then spent $35,000 training them before giving them away.  They have a large data base of breeding records.  Dogs with any physical or temperamental problems are unfit for the program and are a waste.  Their well equipped clinic and vet staff are available for serious problems as long as the dog is working.  When the dog is no longer able to work, it is replaced at again the $35,000 plus a large emotional upheaval for the person depending on the dog. They have experimented with different diets and exchanged data with other such breeders.  Don't you think that what ever they are feeding is healthy and safe?  What kinds of controlled studies do you have backing your choice of diet?  How objective are the sources of your information?  Is your dog's health, their top priority?

I have been raising puppies since 1991 for a large dog guide school that does exactly that.  What do they feed?  They instruct us to feed Pro Plan chicken and rice puppy chow until 4 months and then switch to adult Pro Plan chicken and rice.  I know enough of the people with the trained dogs to know they continue the Pro Plan.  The group I meet with monthly for training includes people that have raised puppies for 6 different service dog schools.  Some of them are feeding other premium commercial chows including Iams and Eukanuba.  Any dog owner wanting a healthy, long lived dog can make this regimen work, leaving more time to spend on the dog.  It is also relatively economical.

The truth is, Labs usually don't bark that much and I don't have methods of controlling barking that I have been successful using. It isn't even in the manual for them. It does have a suggested reading list.  One I have read is The Other End of the Leash by Patrica McConnell.

She suggests the first step is not to yell at the dog. After all, usually if one dog starts to bark, any others around will to. So yell at your dog when it barks and it is happy to have you bark with it. Quietly tell it enough and walk over to it with a treat, doesn't need to be very big. Let him know you have it and use it to lure him away from what he is barking at if anything, and praise him as he shifts his attention to the treat and away from barking. Once away from where he was barking, give him the treat.

Unlike much of my other advice, this is not something I have tried and found works. It does come from a reliable source and I would trust it more than something I found on a website I know little about. I just hope she isn't smart enough to figure out if she barks, she gets a treat plus your attention.