Ziggy Learned to Open the Fridge (and Other Border Collie Problems)

There are dogs who sleep all day and dogs who need a job. Ziggy, my four-year-old Border collie, has made it very clear which kind he is. At six every morning he herds me to the door with a stare so intense I can feel it through my eyelids, and by half past we are on the temple trails above Old City, before it gets hot, while he sorts out the world by sniffing every corner.

A Border collie with nothing to do is dangerous. I learned that the hard way. In the first year I tried everything, long walks, ball throwing, puzzle feeders, and he finished them all faster than I could buy them. He learned the names of his toys in a week. He learned to open the sliding balcony door by his second month. And then, one Tuesday evening in the rainy season, I came home from a late dinner to find the kitchen looking as if a very tidy burglar had been through it.

The fridge door was open. Not just open, wide open, with a bowl of leftover noodles on the floor, cheese wrappers placed in a row, the lid of a yoghurt carefully removed and a carton of eggs, thankfully intact, sitting on the rug. Ziggy was sitting next to it all, tail sweeping the floor, with the proud face of a dog who has completed a difficult project. The handle was a long one. He had worked out that a firm pull with the paw and a quick shove with the shoulder would do it.

I laughed, then I checked what he had eaten. A little cheese, some noodles, and a small amount of yoghurt. Onions were in the noodles, which scared me, so I called the vet clinic. They said to watch him carefully, keep him calm, offer water, and bring him in if he vomited or looked tired. He was fine, and I am glad, but I now know it could have been worse.

We have a child-proof lock on the fridge and a new rule: Ziggy gets a proper job every day. He fetches the post, finds hidden treats around the flat, and learned to put his toys into a basket on command. On weekends we do a small agility course in the park with a friend who also has a collie.

He is still terrified of fireworks, so Songkran week we hide in a quiet café with the blinds drawn. Everyone has a weakness. His just comes with a very good nose.