When president-elect Joe Biden takes up residence in the White House in January 2021, he will be bringing his dogs, Champ and Major, with him.
Proving that the next President of the United States is socially aware, one of the dogs is a rescue.
Champ and Major will be the first pooches in the White House since former president Barack Obama and his family lived there with their two Portuguese water dogs, Sunny and Bo.
Furthermore, Major will be the first ever rescue to take up residence at the famous Washington, DC address, according to NBC.
The current president, Donald Trump, is said to not be a fan of pets.
Long-time dog lovers Biden and his wife, Jill, adopted Major in 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. The German shepherd joined their first dog, Champ, who is the same breed. Named in honour of Biden's childhood moniker, Champ joined the family in 2008, while Biden was serving as vice president to Obama.
Such is his devotion to his dogs, Biden made them part of his election campaign, taking to social media to spur Americans to vote with the message: "Lets put a dog back in the White House.”
Both dogs make regular appearances on Biden's social media pages, such as a post that shows the politician getting his face licked, with the caption: "No ruff days on the trail when I have some Major motivation."
Donald Trump is the first president since James K Polk (1845-1849) not to have any pets in the White House. Other animals that have lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue include Jack the turkey, saved from the cooking pot by Abraham Lincoln, Whiskers the goat, who lived with Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore Roosevelt's innumerable pets, including a one-legged rooster and a badger named Josiah.
Woodrow Wilson kept a flock of sheep to keep the lawn in check, while John F Kennedy had ducks, which eventually had to be rehomed after inciting the fury of the president's Welsh terrier, Charlie.
Bill Clinton's cat Socks, which lived for 20 years, made regular appearances in the Press Briefing Room at the White House, while George W Bush had a longhorn cow called Ofelia, who now lives in retirement on Bush's ranch.
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If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."