No Sheep? No Problem. Clever Border Collie Helps With House Chores Instead

This Border Collie with no flock has found purpose as a household helper. Daze Livingstone (@dazelivingstone) shared an adorable video of her dog, Fable, assisting with a variety of chores and helping tidy up the house.

When Daze brought Fable home, she quickly realized he needed activities to keep his mind engaged. Since she didn’t have any sheep or other animals for him to herd, she initially tried to find him some. She approached local sheep farmers to see if Fable could be trained as a sheepdog, but was turned down. Then she tried agility classes, but that didn’t work out either after Fable was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia. That’s when she turned to household tasks — and Fable quickly embraced them.

She began training him to help with things like throwing out paper, loading the laundry, and putting items back in their place.

“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,” Daze shared in the now viral TikTok video.

Fable now helps Daze with laundry, opening and closing cupboards, tossing garbage, and even reminding her to take her medication.

Viewers who also have Border Collies instantly recognized the value in what Daze is doing, echoing her sentiment that Border Collies “need to work.”

“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 wrote. “She could perform tasks such as deep pressure therapy.”

“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.”

Daze has also trained Fable in scent detection. But Fable isn’t all work and no play. Daze posted a sweet video of him reacting when she says, “I love you.”