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First Time Dog Owner? 5 Things You Need To Know

No matter if you are young or old, getting a dog for the first time can be exciting as well as overwhelming. There is so much to learn and do with your new pet. Before picking up your pooch, it is a good idea to do a lot of research so that you know what to expect.

You already know that you need to pick up dog dishes, a dog bed, food, and toys of course. But food and fun aren’t all you need to think about. There is so much more to owning a dog. You may also want to pick up a book on how to properly train your new pet.

Read Your Dog’s Body Language

When you get your new dog home, spend some time just watching him and learn how he reacts to new things and people. Knowing your dog’s body language will go a long way to helping you learn what stresses your dog out enough to react in a visible way. Also know that interpreting these signals from your dog can come with a learning curve, but as you get to know your pet it will become easier.

Be Consistent With Training

When you are trying to train your dog, it is important to stay consistent. Your dog will never learn proper behavior if sometimes something is okay, while other times it’s not. For example, if you want your dog to learn not to get on the couch, then you should never allow him on the couch. He’ll get confused with the mixed signals otherwise.

Also, when it comes to training, make it fun for both you and your pet. If you don’t you’ll stop before your dog has learned anything, and your dog will get frustrated and act out even more. Dogs get bored just like humans do, and they have even less of an attention span. So, with that in mind keep training sessions to maybe 30 minutes or so a day.

Socialize Your Dog

It is vitally important to socialize your dog as early as possible. Socializing means introducing your dog to as many people, places, and things in a positive manner as you can. This way they don’t freak out when new people come over, or they have to go somewhere, such as the vet. It is also a good idea to get them used to other dogs. If possible, take them to a dog park as often as you can.

Giving Your Dog Exercise

Take your dog for a good, long walk at least once a day. It will do both you and your pet a world of good. This is especially true when your dog is a puppy. They have a lot of energy pent up in their little bodies and they need a safe way to expend it. Also, different breeds need different levels of activity. Do some research on your dog’s breed so you know how much exercise and stimulation they need.

Giving Them Supplements

You may want to think about giving your dog supplements if they become too anxious while you are away, or when they are in an unavoidable stressful situation. AHO offers CBD oil for dogs that can help keep them calm and relax them when they are stressed. It has been shown that CBD oil can be beneficial for both dogs and cats to help soothe them and gives other great benefits as well, such as relieving allergies and arthritis, seizures, and skin problems.

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It’s Never Too Late to Pick Up One of These Four Home-Based Creative Hobbies

Ever feel like you missed the boat on your chance to be an artist?

You’re not alone. After all, responsibilities tend to get in the way of our creative aspirations over time. Between our careers, families and day-to-day stresses related to keeping up with it all, it’s not uncommon to feel creatively discouraged and wonder what could have been.

However, it’s arguably easier than ever to pick up a creative hobby from the comfort of your home. This is especially true given the number of free tools and online communities out there to support aspiring artists.

Whether you’re looking for personal fulfillment or a more productive use of your time, a creative hobby can most certainly do the trick. Easing yourself into such a happy is probably less of a hassle than you might think, too. Consider the following four avenues that allow you to harness your creativity from home.

Composing and Musicianship

It’s never too late to give up on your musical aspirations. For pop stars, rock stars and everyone in between, composing music on your own time is an absolute breeze nowadays with so many digital tools and guides for beginners.

For example, you can download a digital audio workstation (DAW) such as Reaper for absolutely free, allowing you to record, edit and publish your own audio files in a matter of minutes. With the help of samples and loops from sites like Cymatics.fm, you have the early makings of an awesome hope studio that sounds professional and leaves you plenty of room for experimentation.

Despite popular belief, you need little more than a laptop to get starting with composing these days.

Digital Art

Given the rise of touch screens, learning to draw digitally makes the process of becoming an artist much less daunting for newbies. Whether through a Wacom tablet or your personal iPad, just about anyone can learn to draw with the help of endless YouTube tutorials and projected geared toward beginners.

The best parts about learning to draw digitally, though? Room for creativity and error. Versus traditional painting, undoing your mistakes is just a click away; furthermore, you can play around with just about any color palette or art style you want without being restricted by traditional materials.

Video Editing

With the explosion of YouTube and video content as a whole, there are seemingly endless opportunities for those looking to get started with film editing. Anything from cooking tutorials to home improvement projects and beyond are totally fair game. If there’s something you already do in your spare time that you can teach the masses, you’re already game to become a vlogger yourself.

You don’t need pricey equipment to get started with video editing, either. Smartphone cameras are the bread and butter of most of the vlogosphere; meanwhile, finding the right video editing software doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, either.

Writing

If you’ve been sleeping on an idea for a brilliant novel or story, there’s no better time than now to get started. After all, many great artists didn’t come up with their best pieces of fiction until they were a bit older, anyhow.

Participating in National Novel Writing Month and other sorts of creative competitions can be the perfect catalyst for getting started with your story. When you set deadlines for yourself and free-write, you’d be surprised at just how much you can get on paper.

Don’t let your creative aspirations totally pass you by. Instead, examine which creative avenue makes the most sense for your skill set and situation to start making your artistic dreams a reality.

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5 Ways to Improve Your Online Security

The age of Internet brings about a new set of dangers that accompany us in everyday life, and if you want to reap all the benefits provided by high tech without the risk of getting into serious trouble at every turn, you can’t do without some basic knowledge on how to avoid online threats and secure yourself from hostile activities.

Password Security
With the amount of accounts in different services, websites, banks, shops and such one has to deal with today, it is increasingly tempting to think up just one password for all of them and use it for all registrations. It is hardly a good idea, though. Firstly, passwords used by most people are fairly easy to crack, even by brute force attack. Secondly, if you use the same password to control your bank account and to register on a third-rate forum, you are asking for trouble.
You’re much better off using a password manager or creating your own algorithm of creating passwords for different websites that would be easy to remember.

Use an ID Protection Service
The sheer scale of identity theft and associated activities has led to the appearance of numerous ID protection organizations, with different sets of services suitable both for individual people and companies. You may find comprehensive descriptions of them, for example, on IdTheftAuthority.com – if you want to keep track of all your bank account and prevent credit card fraud and other similarly unpleasant eventualities they are certainly worth considering.

Anti-Viral Protection
Today computer viruses, Trojans and worms rarely crash your system or delete your data – they pursue more practical goals, like stealing your passwords, numbers of your credit cards and similar information. Even a 30-symbol password isn’t going to protect you from malicious software reading your keystrokes from inside your system. What you can do to avoid it? Have dependable anti-virus software running at all times. Check suspicious files with VirusTotal or similar services. Try not to visit dubious websites if it can be helped.

Don’t Click Mail Links
Never click on links in emails unless you are absolutely sure they are safe. Even if the mail comes from a trustworthy source – the email address could have been hijacked by malware to spread itself. This goes double for emails seemingly coming from banks and other financial institutions asking you to log in – they are almost certain to be scams.

Scan Your Downloads
Never open email attachments or downloads directly from the browser. Download them first, run them through your anti-virus, check them through online anti-virus aggregators, and only then you may, tentatively, open them. It still pays to avoid downloading files from potentially dubious sources – even a seemingly excessive anti-viral check sometimes fails to detect malicious software.
In the long run, your best protection against online dangers isn’t any kind of software – it is your own common sense. When you are about to do something online, ask yourself if it is a good idea, if it is risky, and if this risk is worth it – and everything will be alright.

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Considerations When Looking at Video Conferencing Services

Video conferencing offers so much, you would be remiss if you didn’t look into one of the service options. Inc reports that video conferencing offers benefits for both the emotional and psychological fulfillment of employees as well as the time and money spent by the business. However, there are numerous programs out there from the ubiquitous Skype to the quality video conferencing platform by Blue Jeans. Trying to find the right one for you depends on your particular needs. Here are some considerations you will need to bear in mind.

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Introducing Beats Studio 2.0

From the press: Indulge yourself in premium style with Beats Studio 2.0, now finished in Champagne and Metallic Sky. The new Beats Studio has been completely redesigned and reimagined to give you a taste of the iconic Beats sound and the most intimate and realistic listening experience. It’s lighter, sexier, stronger, and more comfortable, with precision sound, Adaptive Noise Canceling, a 20-hour rechargeable battery and RemoteTalk™. It has all the energy and excitement you expect from Beats, plus a powerful, reengineered sound, wrapped in an elegantly crafted exterior.