Choi Siwon Reportedly Attacked By His Own Pet Dog When He Was On Military Leave

Recently, the accident that the pet dog of Super Junior's Siwon causing death to a neighboring woman has been gathering much attention from public and media.

Due to the shocking accident, the singer was even asked to drop out of his new drama titled Revolutionary Love. It is reported that the heartthrob also decided to sit out from Super Junior's recent fan event, which took place on October 23 and 24 in Japan.

On October 24, according to a local outlet, one of Choi's colleagues revealed that the idol was even bitten by his own pet when he was on his military leave. He said: “Choi Siwon went on leave and when he returned, he had a band-aid on his nose. He said his dog had bitten him.”

During his military service, the Super Junior member was usually the host of police ambassador's concerts. However due to his facial injury caused by his dog, the idol was not able to participate the event for a month. After that, he had to make an apology to other colleagues for affecting the event's schedule. Moreover, during that time, Choi's position in performances was also changed from the center to the edge of the stage.

Handmade With Love – Bridal Accessories From New Zealand

Now I know of late we've been showcasing lots and lots of beautiful new bridalwear collections but today, we're all about adorable finishing touches for your wedding day ensemble.

Yes indeed, this feature is an indulgent look at the glorious new bridal accessories collection from the incomparable Missy Dress. From their gorgeous boutique and workshop in  From New Zealand, the small talented team creates all of their bridal accessories by hand.

Missy Dress offer extraordinary service and whether you're purchasing online or treating yourself to a dedicated appointment in the boutique, you'll be spoilt from start to finish. Missy Dress's collection includes the most beautiful hair vines, headbands, combs, pins, belts, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and even gorgeous gifts for bridesmaids.

We're always adding to our collection and these new designs are inspired by our wonderful brides.

As our veils are ever popular, we wanted to expand the choice we offered to our brides so we've added a few different edging options with a beautiful simply braided edge in Nyla and a more statement horsehair edge veil with Atlas .

We've also had a play with our lace placement and have created a few cut edge veils with lace around the train like Poppy. These appeal to brides who still want lace but don't want their veil to detract from their dress.

Our Juliet cap veil collection has also been expanded and these veils are so popular with 1920s and 1930s style dresses. One of our favourite new designs is Saffron, a two-comb drape veil in silk style tulle. We also offer the option to personalise your veil so you can have your initials and wedding date hand embroidered to any part of your veil to make it extra special.

Veils can be a bit tricky to understand at first so we've written a comprehensive guide to wedding veils, which you can find on our website, and we always recommend brides buy our lace and tulle samples as colours on screen can vary from real life!

For our boho style brides, we've expanded our vine collection with some really intricate pieces like Mila, Sadie and Lori (pictured in that order below). These hand wired pieces take hours to make but we think the effect is worth it.

We've also created Lorna with a little bit of sparkle and this piece can be woven through your tresses so you just get glimpses of sparkle – a lovely effect. The Ginger vine is more of a glamorous piece and looks beautiful pinned to the side for real wow factor.

Our new jewellery includes bracelets, statement necklaces, back drop necklaces and earrings. We're really excited about our lariat back drop necklaces and they look amazing with a backless dress or our Saffron drape veil.

Jewellery is a great way to add your something blue' without going overboard. We love these sweet flowers with a tiny Swarovski ‘something blue' crystal twinkling in the centre.”

Lots of our brides have requested a greater range of belt designs so we have created the Avani belt, the silver leaves are such a favourite with brides, and Rylee, which is a classic bridal combination of crystals and pearls. There are more to come so watch this space!

I think our favourite piece from the new collection has to be River, a lovely head chain design and we can't wait to see lots of lovely brides styling this in lots of different ways. However, we're adding new pieces to the collection all the time so there's lots get excited about!

Pet swap: are chickens really the new dogs?

Are you a dog person or a chicken person? It is, by some accounts, the question bouncing around the gardens and smallholdings of the UK as more established pets cry “fowl” over a chicken coup. No longer happy to employ poultry as egg suppliers, we are reportedly embracing them as pets, with names and roaming rights.

“I keep finding eggs in the cat basket!” says Lucy Deedes of her own avian interlopers, Mrs Rochester and Miss Bates. The hens live in Deedes' Sussex garden but enjoy coming inside (the kitchen is off-limits lest the birds endanger the council hygiene rating Deedes requires for her marmalade business.

Hen expert Kathy Shea Mormino, AKA the Chicken Chick, says in her new book, The Chicken Chick's Guide to Backyard Chickens, that new owners, like her, soon realise hens make good companions. “It was a shock to me when I started giving them names,” she told the LA Times. Deedes, 62, agrees: “If I'm lying in the garden on a sunny day they come and flop beside me and when the dog jumps in the car to go somewhere, I'll see the chickens standing there thinking, ‘shall we hop in, too?'” She does not walk her hens but did once incubate a rejected egg in her bra; she says it hatched while she queued at the post office. But are chickens really the new dogs? Britain's domestic fowl population has been a fairly stable 500,000 since 2010, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association's annual survey (about the same as guinea pigs, but no threat to our 8.5m dogs). But anecdotal evidence of warming relations is rife, and is expected to grow after the release of Pecking Order, a documentary set inside New Zealand's cutthroat show hen scene (think Crufts with clucks).

“A lot more of our members are treating them as pets, particularly those with young children,” says Pedro Moreira, chair of the Surrey Poultry Society. “They're very sociable animals and all have their own characters and routines.” He advises would-be hen-keepers to first consult neighbours and the council (they're classed as livestock and not always allowed in gardens) and to research coop size.

Deedes says her hens have passed peak egg production, but she has no plans to dispatch them. Meanwhile, her friends are getting chickens, too.

“One has a hen called Sir Cliff, because she looked like a shirt Cliff Richard once wore,” she says, before getting back to her marmalade.

Are Dogs Probiotic?

Archaeological records suggest we've been close with our pets for some time: About 10,000 years ago we started to co-habitate with cats drawn to the well-fed rodents scurrying around our farms. In ancient Egypt millions of pet dogs were buried in elaborate tombs adorned with expensive gifts and inscriptions. As a result, we've likely been swapping cuddles and microbial critters with domesticated animals for many generations.

Today those pets are clearly still at home in our homes. And plenty of headlines tout that beyond snuggles and companionship our four-legged friends offer other benefits—like improved mental and physical health.

But not so fast. A rash of recent research presents a more muddled picture of what pets bring into our lives—from microbe swaps that can alter our gut environment to emotional well-being. Just consider the family dog: Fresh from a romp through the woods or an inquisitive sniff of a butt or two, he will impart a nip, nuzzle or slobbery smooch—perhaps transferring legion microbes with each encounter. Current science suggests that might be a good thing—but only for some of us.

First, let's talk allergies. Numerous works tell us that having a dog appears to reduce rates of pet allergies if first exposure takes place very early in life. Many microbiome researchers believe those exposures to pets' microbial milieu during infancy—in the form of pet dander—may specifically train the immune system to deal with pets and other allergens. (The theory goes: without those early exposures to certain bugs and infectious agents the natural development of the immune system is essentially stunted.) But as one May 2017 study of thousands of kids and adults concludes, the timing of such exposures appears to be key: When first pet exposures occur as a teen or young adult, risk of pet allergy actually appears to increase.

There's more bad news: Pets can also cause other problems. Lizards and turtles can carry salmonella. Parrots can carry the causative agent of psittacosis—which causes severe pneumonia in humans. And evidence has accrued that many of our furry friends can carry serious infectious agents including "superbug" MRSA, giardia, and other pathogens and parasites.

Even our modern understanding about the mental health benefits from pet ownership continues to evolve. For many decades there was widespread acceptance about the mental health benefits of unwinding with a pet. But that picture was complicated by a 2010 study of nearly 40,000 people in Sweden that found pet owners were physically healthier than those without pets yet they suffered from more mental health problems than their sans-pet peers. Now the science remains unsettled about who may benefit from pet ownership or even why such relationships could help.

We do know pets help us get outside to play or walk them, which increases physical activity. Some of these positive effects may be mediated by microbiome changes in response to decreased cortisol levels, but scientists are still looking for definitive answers, says Rob Knight, who studies these questions at the University of California, San Diego.

What about other physical health benefits? Several research groups are looking into that now. In one ongoing study Knight and collaborators have asked 17 lucky senior citizens to agree to be randomized to receive a dog or not. Then they (and the dogs) submit to months of regular health checkups and share their poop with researchers who map out its microbial makeup. Knight's group plans to have some results from this study in the next year.

Meanwhile other research groups are also looking for connections between pet ownership and obesity—exploring if certain microbial swaps might help or hurt the midlines of pets and people. Current evidence actually suggests heavier people have heavier pets—a puzzling phenomenon, which some scientists believe could be due to microbial swaps that go in the person-to-pooch direction. It may sound far-fetched but there are some early hints that "fat" microbe transfers are possible: Studies in the past few years do suggest we can make mice fatter or thinner by transferring microbes from fatter or thinner people to them.

Personally, though, right now I'm not counting on any big benefits from pet ownership except looking into those adorable puppy eyes. For me, that's enough.

Your Dog Can Easily Learn How to Dial 911 and Save Your Life

In the pet adoption world the phrase, "Who rescued who?" is popular. Pets bring so many positive things into our lives, it can seem like they are the ones who saved us. Now, it turns out they really can.

Melody Jackson, an associate professor and director of the animal-computer interaction lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and her team are working on finding new ways dogs can help their owners during medical emergencies, reports CNN.

One of their most recent developments is a touchscreen designed for dogs to use during an emergency. Jackson has found that canines can be trained to use this device, which is similar to a telephone, to contact help when they see their owners fall or when they hear a specific signal from their human.

"The dog could go over to a touchscreen and touch a series of icons on the touchscreen and call 911 with your location," says Jackson, who was inspired to start the FIDO Project at Georgia Tech, after her grandmother fell and could not reach anyone for help. "We think that, literally, this could change lives, make lives so much better, and be a life-saver."

Along with improving communication between dogs and humans, Jackson also works as a dog trainer, and is confident that the touchscreen her team is working on will be easy for dog owners and their companions or service pets to learn.

"A medical alert dog may need to summon 911 for their person who is having a seizure. Or a military working dog might need to tell their handler what kind of explosive they just found," she said. "The dogs had no way reliably to do this. So we started focusing on technology to allow working dogs and specifically service dogs to communicate."

Jackson and her team have already trained several dogs to approach the touchscreen and press three different buttons when they hear the 'help' command. In the real world, this action would trigger the device to call a preprogrammed emergency contact like a family member or 911.

This command requires three buttons to prevent accidental bumps and misdials. From the color of the buttons to the size of the device, FIDO Project has designed everything about the touchscreen to be dog-friendly.

Along with this touchscreen, FIDO Project is also working on a vest for dogs that comes equipped with an emergency cord either owners or pets can pull. When activated, this cord would be able to call emergency contacts, or play a pre-recorded message to alert others in the area. This last option would be especially helpful to diabetic alert dogs and seizure detection dogs, allowing them to tell bystanders that their owner is having a seizure and in need of help.

The future of health care is looking optimistically furry!