JIRICE: Serving their last year in prison, David Hejny and Marek Kolar have their work cut out as they train puppies Zeus and Zirkon to be assistance dogs for the visually impaired.
The training is part of a project to help inmates at the Jirice prison northeast of Prague be better prepared for life outside jail.
“It certainly helps you mentally and you learn to be responsible, taking care of somebody else,” said 34-year-old Hejny, serving time in the open prison for drug dealing and human trafficking.
Twenty-nine of Jirice’s 800 inmates live in houses without bars, the only such establishment in the Czech Republic. The prison opened in 2017, inspired by the system in Norway, which puts a strong emphasis on rehabilitation.
Carefully selected inmates also take care of other animals including a llama and two kangaroos, as well as work in the garden.
“The animals fit our concept of boosting the work habits of the inmates,” Roman Farkas, a special educator at Jirice, told AFP, standing by the prison’s small football pitch.
“They also serve as a therapeutic element... as an anti-stress program,” he told AFP.
While the Czech recidivism rate for released convicts touches 70 percent, in Jirice’s open prison it is only 17.2 percent.
On a chilly, foggy morning, Hejny and Kolar have put the two-month-old Labrador Retriever pups on a leash and separate them to show what they have learned since they arrived on November 1.
The dogs — who are brothers — stay with the inmates most of the time. While Hejny’s pup Zeus can sit and give the paw, Zirkon sniffs around, wagging his tail happily.
“He’s quite a devil and it’s going to be tough,” said Kolar, cuddling the dog as he sat on a bed in the prison house.
“Care of the puppies makes us happy — we are not lonely, because we have someone here,” added the 31-year-old, who was jailed for drug dealing and theft.
“In prison, you meet people you don’t want to be with, but you have to meet them. But you always want to be with a dog, right?“
Jirice’s inmates have so far brought up 12 dogs. After a year, the prison sends them back to an organization which hands them over to people with visual impairments.
“The project is designed to socialize the puppies, to teach them to like people and get acquainted with the world around them,” said Farkas.
The inmates take the dogs to Prague to let them try out the metro, escalators or shopping malls to help them get used to the hustle and bustle of the city.
Farkas said the coaches did not need a guard: “We expect them never to abuse the freedom.”
The prison selects dog trainers for the “Paw in the Palm” project, inspired by a similar project in the United States, after assessing their profiles, with previous experience being a plus.
Zirkon is the second dog trained by Kolar, who said he always loved animals.
“I will leave together with Zirkon, in October 2025,” he said.
Hejny, who has 14 months to serve, will hand over Zeus two months before his own release.
“They will take Zeus away after a year and I will definitely be sad,” he said.
“So I will buy a puppy when I get out.”
Puppy love as Czech prison inmates train assistance dogs
https://arab.news/v597k
Puppy love as Czech prison inmates train assistance dogs
- Serving their last year in prison, David Hejny and Marek Kolar have their work cut out as they train puppies Zeus and Zirkon to be assistance dogs for the visually impaired
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
___
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
___
“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
___
“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
___
“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
___
“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
