Canela's Street-Food Heist in Ari

In Ari, Canela can smell the street food from three sois away. I have tested it. I once stood at the corner of Soi 4 with her, holding my phone, and the moment the grilled pork stall lit its charcoal two hundred metres away, she lifted her nose, closed her eyes and began to sing. She is a tricolour Beagle with a very loud voice, and her nose is a professional instrument.

Every evening at about six we do our walk, and every evening it is a negotiation. She pulls me to the vendor with the grilled pork skewers, then to the lady who sells fried bananas, and last of all to the noodle cart. The vendors know her by now. 'Canela!' they shout, and she wiggles her whole body like a little brown and white fish.

Yesterday I made a mistake. The lead was long, I was reading a message, and the pork lady turned around for ten seconds to speak to a customer. When I looked up, Canela was standing on her hind legs against the stall, with her front paws on the edge of the table, and a skewer, with seven pieces of pork, was disappearing into her mouth like a magician's scarf.

I shouted. The pork lady shouted. A man on a motorbike stopped and clapped. Canela, with her eyes half closed from happiness, finished the last piece, and then looked at me with her sweetest face as if she had done a good deed. I paid for the skewer, plus two more for the customer next to us, plus a donation for the embarrassment.

Of course the real worry came afterwards: the skewer stick. I called our vet, who told me to check that she had not swallowed the wooden stick and to watch her closely. I found it on the pavement, intact. Phew! The vet also reminded me that fatty grilled food and spices can upset a dog's stomach. Sure enough, there was one long night of discomfort, and I will not say more.

Since then, a shorter lead near stalls, a pocket full of her own dried treats, and I keep my phone in my pocket. Canela sings at the corner anyway. Some things never change.