I wouldn't dare teach a dog to open the frig. We had a beagleXboxer that taught himself to do so. Nearly killed himself the first time....eating EVERYTHING HE COULD (did I mention BEAGLE X Boxer?). We thought maybe we had left it ajar or something. Took the towel off the handle in case. The monkey got into it again with less dangerous results. So we bungey corded it....screams redneck BTW. He chewed the cord and it was deucedly inconvenient. So we bought a frig with no handle....just finger inset on the side of the door. Worked...he didn't get into it again.
We just replaced that frig last year...this one has handles again. Also has the freezer on the bottom half....easier to not have to clear the kitchen of dogs just to browse the frig ...especially with Norbert standing there decoratively in front of everything....this door just clears his beautiful red back. He does have to duck his fat head.

We did have a dog that did gates....but again, self taught. Couldn't get her to shut them either..she was too busy putting in the cows. If I knew then what I know now!

Gonna work this summer on teaching the big dogs to NOT open the screen door.

I feel for you Sonya :-) Luckily Poe is a dog that did not take advantage of the situation. Best damn dog I have ever had or seen. Just a bit biased though Now his nephew is a different story. No way I will train him to do that as he would be helping himself on a daily basis

 Quote: Sonya Gilmore

....easier to not have to clear the kitchen of dogs just to browse the frig ...especially with Norbert standing there decoratively in front of everything....

Oh dear, Oscar does this too... quiet as a mouse, he's just always calmly body blocking whatever you need in the kitchen. I have often thought about what a bad idea it would be to teach him how to get into the fridge too... he would just wait for us to leave the house before he helped himself, to everything.

~Natalya