I saw a show on the Discovery Channel that presented the best theory of wolf domestication I have ever heard. As you suggest, it started with wolves standing off waiting to scavenge food from an animal humans had killed. Most wolves naturally kept a certain distance from the human encampment. Some few wolves were not quite as wary, and their stand-off distance was not as great as the other wolves. Those less wary wolves, being closer to the food, got there first when the humans left. They ate first and ate the most. Over only a few generations, this trait reinforced itself. As the wolves became less wary of humans, they ate better and evolved into dogs. Humans too recognized the advantages of having these tolerant wolves around and purposefully began to feed those who were the most domesticated. And so on to poodles ...
Lol my Rufus, a poodle, and a cousin of Duck Dynasty wants to knw what you meant in you reference to poodles.