There 1s no good reason to leave your dog outdoors » They can’t and shouldn’t live their whole lives outside Jess Berget Opinions Editor may not own a dog, but I do know the fundamentals of caring for one. Give it lots of walks, attention, food, water, love— and don't force it to live outside. I think the main benefit of owning a dog is to havea companion and loyal friend by your side and to love it and care for it as if it were a member of your family. This benefit is lost when you make it exclusively an outdoor animal. Let me clarify, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to have your animals sleep outside. Many guard, cattle, farm, and even family dogs do this and are happy campers. However, this is contingent on the pet receiving adequate sustenance, shelter, and socialization. It’s when they are left outside, sometimes even chained up, with no socialization or attention that I find cause for concern. I know some people prefer keeping their dogs outside because they are afraid of the mess, the shedding, or dealing with their bad behaviour. However, I don’t see the point in having one at all if you neglect it and don’t let it into your house. In fact, I think it’s inhumane. People who do this are also doing themselves a great disservice by neglecting a relationship with a companion that was literally selectively bred to be a pet, a best friend, and an indoor member of your house. It also takes a huge emotional toll on the animal. Any veterinarian will tell you that keeping your dog outdoors is not how you care for it. As previously mentioned, some people might keep dogs outside because they don't know how to deal with their bad behaviour—but this actually gives the dogs worse habits. Constant barking, destructive chewing, and digging are all bad behaviours that they can develop if they are kept outside with no socialization. Dogs are social creatures and they are used to being in packs. Once one is welcomed into a new home, that family becomes its pack. Isolating a dog outside will only make it lonely and miserable. It’s also dangerous to leave them totally exposed to the weather. No breed of dog is able to live outside for its whole life, as veterinarian Dr. Rob Proietto explained in an interview with The Dodo. What gets your*goat: Couples who post intimate or romantic things >» #Lovehim #Couplegoals is not #cute Jess Berget Opinions Editor believe there needs to be a level of privacy about what you share online with, and about, your significant other. Although there is no harm in sharing posts about your partner once in a while, there is such a thing as oversharing. Posting intimate photos of the both of you kissing, cuddling, canoodling, or doing daily activities is not something I or anyone else wants to see. It’s not cute or romantic, and youre not #couplegoals. You're just making other people uncomfortable and it could be a sign of an unhealthy relationship. There should be boundaries for what people are allowed to post on social media. No one wants to see you swap spit with your significant other while scrolling through their newsfeed. Those kinds of photos need to be left for you and your partner's eyes only. If it were up to me, couples who post about themselves kissing, laying in bed together, or engaging in any behaviour that should be kept private would be outlawed. I think it’s obnoxious, annoying, and kind of gross that someone feels the need to document and share their romantic gestures with the world. These are things you should share with each other, not with the public. But enough about what I think. Turns out, constantly posting about your partner in this way can actually be a downfall to your relationship. Focusing on the likes and comments you receive on romanitic posts as validation for your partnership is not healthy. Sexologist and relationship expert Nikki Goldstein has attested to this. “Often it’s the people who post the most who are seeking validation for their relationship from other people on social media,” she said to the Daily Mail Australia. “The likes and comments can be so validating that when someone is really struggling, that’s where they get their up from—not from the person making the gesture, but what other people will say about it.” Relationships need private moments and memories to survive, whereas constantly posting about your partner eradicates any sense of privacy. It’s not just Goldstein saying this— other studies have echoed this conclusion. Research by Brunel University in London found that people who post updates about their romantic partner are more likely to have low self-esteem. Additionally, a study by the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that those who felt less secure about their partners’ affections tended to share more about their relationships on social media. This research suggests that those couples who make frequent intimate and romantic posts might be making them not out of love, but out of a need for validation. People should be focused on making meaningful connections and memories with their partners, not on posts and how many likes they're getting. It turns what could be an important relationship into one that is shallow and in need of validation—and that’s not healthy. “Dogs can overheat very quickly in warm weather climates and can get hypothermia in cold, wet conditions,” he said. Keeping your pets outside also causes them to never become socialized with humans or other animals. As a result, they become frustrated, aggressive, and hostile. You are actually making a dog’s behaviour worse by keeping it outside all the time. Socializing dogs by letting them in your house and walking them teaches them how to behave with people and other pets. As domesticated animals, it is imperative for them to learn these things as early as possible. Letting your dog sleep or be outside as much as possible is okay as long as you spend a lot of time with it, it has other animals to play with, or at Illustration by Cara Seccatien least you let it inside in harsh weather. Just please don't just leave your dog outside, all the time, alone. Keto'isn't neat-o eM abadet ess (ECB EEM Tle) mantels Katie Czenczek News Editor I: worked as a lifeguard for about four years now. In my time, I’ve heard every diet myth be passed around the break room like dinner rolls at Christmas. What can I say, we're a superficial bunch that packages these quick-fix diets as “healthy practices.” Really, we're just finding a way to binge-drink on weekends but maintain those ripped washboard abs every lifeguard seems to have. This year’s fad is the keto diet. I’ve had many gripes with diets over the years—the paleo one in particular really got to me—but the number of times I’ve seen failed attempts to lose weight via keto has prompted me to share my frustrations here. It’s just too restrictive and there are better ways to lose weight. To make it clear, I’m not against people trying to practice better eating habits or those looking to fit into those jeans from high school that hug your hips. I just don't see what keto has against carbs. The premise is to practice a low-carb, high-fat food intake. You're supposed to cut out bread, fruit, desserts, and anything that really tastes good. You're still able to eat salami and coat everything in a thick layer of butter. Overall, it doesn’t sound too batshit. Like most diets, the idea is to cut back on things that people eat way too much of: Carbs and sugars. The only problem with this is that you also end up cutting out many vitamins and nutrients that keep the body healthy. J also think a diet with an emphasis on meat is a one-way trip to high- blood-pressure-land. If practiced correctly (which is rarely the case because who the hell can survive on less than 50 grams of carbs daily?) the body goes into a state of ketosis. Our bodies burn off carbohydrates, but when strictly limiting the amount of carbs, the body will then burn off fat reserves to make up energy. This is what leads some people to go through what has been cutely nicknamed a “keto flu” They can experience light- headedness, poor sleep, extreme fatigue, and other symptoms that to me sound a lot like when you don’t eat enough food and then stand up really fast. Insulin levels drop very low in ketosis, which also makes this diet very dangerous for diabetics. However, when those brave souls make it through the initial sickness, results show up pretty quickly. It turns out that it’s easy to slim down without exercise. Then what? Back to eating poorly just to return to your original weight. The diet does work for some people, but it is not for everyone. People who are breast- feeding or those taking high blood pressure medication should not go on this diet. I'd argue that it won't work for most. The US News and World Report ranked the top 40 diets for 2018 and keto tied for last place. The score was based on whether the diets promote weight loss and are healthy. It ranked 2.8 out of 5 for weight loss and 1.6 out of 5 for health. Folks, it’s just not a good idea. The health experts also don't know what the long-term effects are, since it’s only come onto the scene in recent years. Some research has indicated that it could be bad for your liver and that the lack of vitamins could have a negative impact, though the verdict from the health community is still inconclusive. If you still want to try the diet, all power to you. Me, I'll stick to testing out the Mediterranean diet the next time I think about changing my eating habits.