A Border collie’s way of helping his owner with daily household chores has amazed viewers on TikTok, after his owner shared a video of him tidying away washing and binning litter.
When the canine’s owner, Daze Livingstone (@dazelivingstone), brought Fable home in 2022, she never expected the dog to become her occasional personal assistant. Livingstone, who lives in Brighton, in the U.K., captured a glimpse into her unusual but productive life with Fable, posting it to TikTok on January 1. In the now-viral clip, the working breed is seen doing domestic chores—including placing shoes in a different room, tossing paper into a bin and loading laundry into a basket—after receiving verbal cues from his owner.
“I was working at a coffee shop at the time, but once I brought him home, I quickly realized that I never wanted to leave him and that going out to work all day was just not an option, so I quit my job and started my own business as a face painter,” Livingstone, 24, told Newsweek. “People often talk about how their pets ‘saved’ them or were a constant source of comfort and love.
“For me, it was more like I had just brought home a rabid dire wolf, and every day was a sheet battle of survival. The puppy phase is hard at the best of times, but with a highly strung working dog like a Border collie, it was on another level.”
“Border collies need to work, but I don’t have any sheep, so these are some of the household chores I make my Border collie do,” Livingstone told viewers online. The clip, captioned “my border collie’s chores,” has amassed more than 14,000 likes to date, amusing many viewers with the dog’s natural aptitude for housework.
Determined to give Fable a purpose, Livingstone initially sought out sheep farms where he might train as a herding dog, but every local farmer turned her down. She pivoted to agility classes, only to find Fable’s progress halted by a diagnosis of elbow dysplasia.
That was when Livingstone started inventing tasks at home, and was delighted to see the intelligent dog learning new commands fast.
“We started doing tricks at home and he loved it,” she said. “By 6 weeks old, he had learned all the basic dog commands like sit, stay, heel and rollover, plus a few others like high-five and his lefts and rights.”
@dazelivingstone
Today, Fable has a routine that keeps both his mind and body engaged. The canine helps with the laundry, opens and closes cupboards for the dishes, puts rubbish in the bin and recycling, turns on the kettle, and can even remind Livingstone to take her medication.
She summed their time together up: “Raising Fable has been one of the most challenging undertakings of my life, but it has taught me so much about patience, hard work and how much it hurts to get bitten by a baby Border collie.”
The short video struck a chord with viewers online not only for its humor but also for what it revealed about the intense needs of one of the most-intelligent dog breeds in the world.
Border collies are prized for their herding instincts and high energy levels, both of which require sustained stimulation, and many viewers on TikTok were able to relate to the demands of owning one.
“Mine thinks his job is to catch the ball 400 times a day,” one viewer said.
“My collie was a therapy dog and trained in helping mental health,” another added. “She could perform tasks such as deep pressure therapy.
“She saved my life, once she retired as my dog I kept her but she would go to work with my mum who worked dementia care homes and sit with the residents all day, she loved it.”
“I saw a boarder collie guide dog once,” a third said. “I understand they are herding breed but seeing such a high working drive dog do a job that requires so much focus was amazing.”
“Mine helps lay the table taking bits of kitchen roll we’ve told him are serviettes,” another comment read. “He’s so proud to help.”
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