Overweight Border Collies

My 4 year old Border Collie has recently started eating all kinds of things. She was starting to put on weight, and we were told to have her take off 5 pounds. We reduced her food by half. Now the world's most finicky dog has become a chow hound. She squeaks at the cupboard where we keep the food. She has tipped over the trash a few times, and has started sniffing around for things. Any thoughts?

As in humans, the best way to decrease weight is to increase exercise, not decrease food intake. This is particularly sagacious for Border Collies. The rummaging for food and chowing down comes from the lack of food. Reducing her food by half can be unhealthy and unproductive. A better formula would be to double her exercise and maintain her normal food levels (this means you have to be twice as active too but don't take the easy way out). At four years old, she shouldn't be too "run down" to necessitate avoiding heavy exercise.