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Cecily Knobler

Pets

The evidence is in and the world has an unexpected 'naughtiest' dog breed

And no, it's not the beagle.

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A beagle gnaws on a boot.

First of all, all dogs are good boys and sweet girls. Let's just start there. But if you want to get kind of scientific about it, the folks at Protect My Paws were ready for the assignment. Turning to Instagram (as all good scientific studies should), they analyzed 87,886 posts and made charts to show the results of which breeds were the best behaved and which, well, were not.

"We counted the posts that mentioned a breed along with a popular behavior hashtag (#gooddog, #cleverdog, #cleverpuppy, #baddog, #naughtypuppy, #cheekydog, #muddydog). And then we balanced the positive hashtags against the naughty ones and looked at where they were geotagged."

First, the good news: according to their findings, the "best behaved dog" is the Korean Jindo dog. This means that, following the Instagram data, this breed had the most positive-related hashtags.

- YouTube, HappyDogTV_Officialwww.youtube.com

But there's more! They also figured out where the best-behaved (and naughtiest) breeds lived geographically. "Ukraine is the land of good boys," they report, "with 96.72 good boy behavior." Also, nearly all states in the US report more good boy hashtags than naughty. ("Kansas and North Carolina are the only states who vote ‘naughty dog’–and only by a small margin.")

Now for the naughty. According to this study, the naughtiest dog breed is (drum roll please) the Japanese Spitz, with 86.67 hashtags or mentions noting unruly behavior. For those who haven't heard of this breed, they are tiny little white marshmallow fluff-balls who are cousins to the Pomeranians. They note these pooches' "lack of respect for your personal space with a mischievous sense of humor, and you can expect to be clambered over, interrupted, snuzzled, and maliciously cuddled."

They seem to be tiny little adorable Velcro-dogs.

- Soyabean YouTube channelwww.youtube.com

According to 2puppies.com, as cute as these little babies are, problems might arise with their suspicion of strangers. They relay, "Despite its small size, it can show aggression towards intruders. The dog chooses only one person in the family to obey without question."

Furthermore, while they seem to be little cuddle bugs, "These animals cannot tolerate the loneliness. If left alone for too long, your Spitz can destroy the interior and scratch on the doors without interruption for hours."

Also on the list, according to their naughty hashtags, are the following breeds in order: the wirehaired Vizsla, the Shichon, the Mudi, the Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel meets poodle), the Chug (chihuahua meets pug), the Shichon, the Poochon, the Welsh terrier, the Keeshond, and the English springer Spaniel. (I will say as someone who watched their beagle attempt to chew the blinds clear off the rod, I was shocked they didn't make the list!)

beagle, dog, breeds, naughty, pupsA beagle sits on a table. Photo by Anna Kumpan on Unsplash

The map they share also shows the country with the most misbehaved dog breeds by the research's account. South Africa is number one on this unfortunate list, followed by Slovakia, Singapore, Australia, and the UK. The data is collected by posts showing their dogs being silly little house destroyers.

But dog-lovers, before you breathe a sigh of relief that your dog didn't make the list, there's a slightly newer report out from just this year. The folks at Country Living cite a report made by Many Pets, an insurance company, who sifted through thousands of claims and insights from their customers to come up with the list of dog breed.

Their list is quite different, with one exception. The, as they call it, most mischievous dog breeds are:

Labrador
Cockapoo
French Bulldog
German Shepherd
Cocker Spaniel

cockapoo, dog, naughty, dog breedsA cockapoo puppy sits in a field. Photo by Hugo Kruip on Unsplash

If you cross reference those lists, only one breed makes both and it's… the Cockapoo. So if you've got one of these adorable pups, hide your favorite shoes. Otherwise, you should be fine.

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Community

People over 100 share their simple secrets to living the best life

"Life goes on. So get on and do the things you love to do."

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Elderly hands hold flowers. Two older people sit on a bench.

There has always been something really fascinating about resilience. Some people simply embody it, no matter their age, and remind us that you're never too old to keep living a good life.

Just recently, a 100-year-old woman named Layne Horwich was diagnosed with breast cancer. One year later, at 101–she had beaten it. Not only did she survive the cancer, but she recently passed her driving test, according to a story on NBC 5 News Chicago. When asked how she has stayed so relatively healthy, she answered, "I did play tennis until I was 92, and I think that was good."

People who have lived to be 100 may have less time than many of us, but what they have is perspective. And, if they're lucky, that perspective can be churned into wisdom like cream into butter.

Business Insider, via their YouTube page, posted a video entitled "Life Lessons From 100-Year-Old Americans Who Didn't Expect To Live So Long." Here, they interview five centenarians to get their thoughts and wisdom on love, health, technology and, most importantly, how to live a happy life.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Barbara (101), Diane (102), Jack (101), Helen (107) and Margaret (102) get mic'd up and sit down to talk about their experience of living on this Earth for over a century. They have all lived from the Great Depression through the pandemic, and every one of those nearly one million hours tells its own story. They initially discuss their backgrounds, goals, how they met their spouses, and the lens with which they can now see the history they lived through.

They are asked questions on a variety of topics, and none of their answers disappoint.

ON LOVE

Barbara closes her eyes and says with such sincerity, "It's so important to feel love. I won't say it makes the world go round, but it's very helpful."

And you know the old wives' tale that opposites attract? Margaret and Barbara disagree with that idea. Cutting back and forth between them, Margaret says "A like-mindedness is the formation of a solid marriage. And that is love." Barbara adds, "You agree, you're on the same page, and you want to live your life together."

ON MORTALITY

Jack so beautifully and vulnerably tells us as he exits his home and takes a drive, "The most challenging thing about being 100 is at some times, time hangs heavy on your hands. I don't have any of my good friends who are still alive. They are all gone. My wife passed away 20 years ago this year. Much too early. She should be here with me, sitting right here, right now."

He later proclaims, "I am the last man standing. It's not easy at all. If I sat around and grieved all day long, that would be very difficult to take. I know that life goes on and that's the only answer I can give you. Life goes on. So get on and do the things that you love to do."

Helen also feels deep losses around her. She tells us she has lost her two sons, one just a few weeks prior at the age of 82. "I'm just shocked that I would still be here and they're gone. At my age, I think every step you take is challenging. I feel that I'm on borrowed time."

Both Margaret and Barbara reflect on the years with their husbands. Barbara confesses how hard life can seem without him. "It's very tough at this stage of the game to be alone, be vulnerable and be dependent."

ON TECHNOLOGY

older person, computer, technology, learning, 100Older man sitting at the computer. commons.wikimedia.org

When they're asked "What has changed the most in 100 years?" they name the Internet and cell phones for starters.

Helen adorably asks the producer, "Is it true you're on YouTube?" She then admits, "I see all these young people walking down the street holding phones. Everyone has got one but me."

The overall vibe is they don't love the seemingly modern obsession with technology. Jack quips, "Amazing how much garbage gets on your computer." However, they don't totally dismiss it. Jack continues, "It used to be that if you wanted the answer to something, you'd have to go to the library and do a great deal of research. Today, with a snap of your fingers, the Internet has the answer for you. Done!"

Margaret says she often uses her computer. "I think technology, if used properly, has definitely made a huge difference. The ability to reach out to one another. Getting emails, sending emails."

ON HEALTH

elderly people, exercise, aerobics, health, 100Older people taking an aerobics class.commons.wikimedia.org

When asked, "What helped you live to 100?" they all have slight variations on one theme: Exercise.

Jack also shares, "I've never smoked. I've never drunk to excess." And later, he says, "I don't eat meat to excess," though he does admit to enjoying chicken. (Helen adds to this that one should eat properly from a very young age.)

Diane (who was once a dancer) suggests "one hour a day of strenuous exercise. A real workout that will keep you going and keep you alive."

Margaret has a less intense idea of exercising. "Walk, walk, walk," she insists.

ON BEING HAPPY

Jack determines, "Don't let the old man in. I refuse to think old. If you think young, more than likely you're going to act young."

Margaret suggests keeping activities on your calendar. "There's always something on my plate that I look forward to doing. And I think that's important for people. To look forward to what you can do today, that makes a difference."

Barbara stresses the importance of friendships. "I have many friends who help me enjoy life from all different generations. 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. And that's what makes life so interesting."

When asked directly, "So what's the secret for a long, happy life?"

elderly man, laughing, happiness, health, old ageAn elderly man laughs.pxhere.com

Diane answers, "I think it's just love of life. It's a devotion to my family, to the ones I love. The thing that I've really learned is not to be so self-centered."

Jack gives this tip: "If you don't complain, you don't make life difficult for everyone around you. You'll get along in life." He then added, "You can't get anywhere in life until you start doing things for other people."

Barbara: "You want to be attached to things that are positive and good in life." She also echoes the idea that, "Giving is a real joy."

We see Helen visiting her church, as she shares this thought - "I think if you're nice to people, it comes back to you."

Positive thinking overall is the key. Jack ends the segment with this: "I don't feel like my days are numbered. I feel that I have good years in front of me yet."

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Mental Health

Expert shares three realistic ways you can actually increase your emotional intelligence

"Emotional intelligence is learned and learnable at any point in life."

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Two hands clasp. Post-it notes about emotional intelligence

Most of us understand the concept of measuring intelligence through testing like IQ exams. What are our cognitive abilities? How well do we retain information? But the idea of measuring emotional intelligence—now that's a different story.

On their website, Yale University says motional intelligence (EQ or EI) is "what gives us the ability to read our instinctive feelings and those of others. It also allows us to understand and label emotions as well as express and regulate them," according to Marc Brackett, Ph.D., founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

The term "emotional intelligence" has become a bit of a buzzword in the last three decades. This is because, even though the idea has been around for a while, it was made quite popular in the mid-90s by psychologist Daniel Goleman in a book called Emotional Intelligence – Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.

So the question is: how can we learn to implement the traits of highly emotionally intelligent people? Goleman himself shares the tips and tricks that any of us can learn on YouTube's Big Think channel.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com, BigThink Channel

He explains that one's EQ is "a combination of self-awareness, managing your emotions well, empathy, tuning into other people, and putting that all together to have harmonious or effective relationships."

Broken down into four domains—"self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management,"—Goleman begins with the broader strokes:

1. Self-Awareness

Just the concept of self-awareness alone, he notes, has been around for centuries. He specifically quotes the famous Socrates notion of "Know thyself," which truly is the crux of the idea. "Self-awareness means you know what you're feeling, you know how it shapes your perceptions and your thoughts and impulses to act," says Goleman.

2. Self-Management

Goleman asks, "When you're upset, when you're angry, when you're anxious, can you manage your emotions? Can you keep them from disrupting your focus on what you have to do right now?"

3. Social Awareness

How empathetic are you? "You not only know how a person thinks and how they feel–you care about them. This is what you want in your parents. This is what you want in your spouse." (He goes on to list "lover, friend, teacher, doctor, leaders of any kind.")

4. Relationship Management

This refers to how well you can handle conflicts with others. He asks, "Are you being an effective communicator?" The good news, Goleman tells us, is that EQ is "learned and learnable at any point in life."

listening, empathy, high emotional intelligence, learningA woman leans in to listen. Giphy, Interested Go On, Schitt's Creek

1) Learn to listen

We so often, Goleman explains, "think about what we want to say and don't really listen to the other person. We cut them off. We interrupt." But if you want to increase your EQ points, "this is the basis of empathy–listening well."

"So if you want to learn to be better at empathy, you might say, 'My habit is cutting people off and interrupting. I'm gonna make the effort to do it differently. I'm gonna listen to the person out. Say what I think they mean and THEN say what I think.'"

Someone may ask how that could be done? Goleman tells us our brains can actually change in terms of neuroplasticity, after repeated behaviors. Change the behavior, change the mind.

"That’s what it’s like to change a habit. So with listening, you have to, at first make an intentional effort. It might feel uncomfortable. But as you persist, it gets more and more comfortable until finally, it’s an automatic habit that will stay with you for years."

2) Look to leaders you admire and mimic them

An interesting question Goleman likes asking his readers and audiences is, "Tell me about a leader you've loved and a leader you hate, and tell me one quality that makes a leader so good or so bad." He goes on to explain the leader you love most likely is high in emotional intelligence. "Research at the Yale School of Management has found that emotions are contagious, and they’re most contagious from the leader outward. The leader is most often the center of strong emotions, either negative or positive."

Part of what makes a great leader is the regulation of those emotions. Once you start regulating your emotions and reactivity, you can emulate the leaders you find inspiring.

On the @riseandconquer Instagram page, they note that having emotional intelligence isn't akin to "being Zen" all the time. "It's how you respond."

3) Reach out to people with kindness. It will be contagious.

kindness, empathy, love, emotional intelligence, goodMake People feel loved written on a wall Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Goleman tells an inspiring story about a bus ride he once took in Manhattan wherein the bus driver was above and beyond friendly. People, he said, would arrive grumpily "in their own bubble" and seemingly leave in a better mood.

"Years later, I saw an article in The New York Times about that bus driver. His name, it turned out, was Govan Brown. He had fans. People would wait for his bus. He got three thousand letters saying what a great bus driver he was, not one complaint....He had a purpose that was far greater than that of the New York Transit Authority, which is something like getting as many people to where they want to go on time as we can. He had a splendid sense of what he was doing. It gave a greater meaning to what he did, and he did it superbly."

Any of us can choose to do this at any time. Again, the more we change our behavior, the more our thoughts will change leading to, you guessed it, a higher EQ.

Goleman reiterates, "I’ve always felt that the more emotional intelligence in society, the better. I think we would have parents who are more effective in raising kids, who are kinder. We’d have more compassion for each other in our interactions with friends and loved ones as well as with strangers. I think we would care more about the environment, which is why I’ve been happy to be a kind of evangelist for emotional intelligence, if you will. I’m not the originator of the phrase. I think I made it more famous.

I just think it would make a better world."

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Humor

Anderson Cooper can't stop giggling telling Colbert about 'embarrassing' childhood interest

"I can't even bring myself to say it. It's so lame."

YouTube, CBS

Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen discuss their childhoods on Colbert.

When it comes to reporting the news, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is usually quite serious. After decades of reporting on everything from hurricanes to elections to wars, Cooper has earned 18 Emmys and two Peabody Awards.

But if you get so much as a thimble of alcohol in him (as his friend and New Years Eve co-host Andy Cohen likes to do)—Anderson is known to get what can only be described as a big old case of the giggles.

@colbertlateshow

When you have a laugh attack with your bestie. 😂 Tag the @andycohen to your #AndersonCooper! #Colbert

On a recent episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Cooper and Cohen appear by each other's sides. Cooper says, "I was a very strange kid, clearly." But when Cooper begins to attempt to share what he was interested in as a child, he starts laughing in his trademark high-pitched, quick-fire giggle. Cohen pipes in with "He's drunk," which Cooper denies. Colbert tries to get the train back on the tracks and asks, "What were you interested in?" And now all bets are off. Cooper literally can't stop laughing, and the more he laughs, the more the audience laughs.

Again, Cohen says, "He's drunk, he's gone. One shot!" (Which may or may not have been true.) Colbert continues asking for the answer, and finally Anderson can get four words out. "I was interested in…" and again, a fit of laughter overwhelms him. Trying his best, he says, "I can't even bring myself to say it. I was…" and then again–uncontrollable laughter.

Anderson Cooper, laughing fits, giggle fits, CNNAnderson Cooper laughs.Giphy

Colbert finally asks, "What as a child could you have possibly been so interested in that would make you giggle?" Fighting back tears of joy, Cooper says, "It's so lame." And the laughter returns. He finally pulls himself together, red-faced and amped up, and states, "As a child, I was interested in 'The Zulu Wars.'" (He is referring to the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.) He can't get the word "Wars" out before bursting back into the giggles, and as Cohen says, "What?" and Colbert repeats, "Zulu Wars," Cooper has now physically slid down in his seat, arms crossed, laughter dialed up to 11.

Now Colbert knows how to have fun with it. He eggs him on, asking, "Like the Battle of Rorke's Drift? And Isandlwana and stuff like that?" To which Cooper laughs, nods, and says, "Yes," and then is immediately impressed by Colbert's knowledge on the topic.

What led up to that moment was equally charming, as Colbert pushed Cohen and Cooper to discuss what they were like as kids.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com, CBS

It's pretty adorable to see anyone laugh that hard, but what's even quirkier is the embarrassment Cooper seemed to feel about his childhood interest. He's not alone. Kids and teens can be into the darndest things for the most random of reasons. (At 14, I was really into Jungian psychology and made everyone discuss it ad nauseum.)

On a Reddit thread, someone asks, "What were your weird or bizarre childhood obsessions/interests?" And the comments most definitely didn't disappoint. The OP continues, "Mine were buoys. Yeah, buoys. My uncle was in the Coast Guard at the time (I was about 7), and he arranged a visit for me and my dad to go down to a shipyard. I remember spending hours wandering around these massive iron buoys."

A few people answered the more typical "dinosaurs" and "sharks." But this Redditor's brother had a more unique interest: "My brother was completely and utterly obsessed with those National Emergency Broadcast tests. Mainly just the electronic beeps it would make in the beginning. He would sit on YouTube and listen to them for hours on end. Whenever they came on TV, he would scream for everyone to be quiet and would turn on every single TV in the house. The sound now creeps me out pretty bad."

FCC, television, emergency broadcast system, testing, broadcastEmergency Broadcast System at KPTV Portland tests in 1988.en.m.wikipedia.org

Now this one is even stranger: ""Paths. I can't really explain it. Especially two paths near each other." (That sounds like more of a spiritual pursuit than an interest, but cool nonetheless.)

This commenter bravely shares what was less of an interest and perhaps more of a strange compulsion: "I've heard that I used to bite the heads off Barbie dolls at my daycare."

Had that been the case for Cooper, I'm not sure he'd ever have gotten through the sentence without complete laughter-implosion.


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