The Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho has come up with an innovative way of helping dark colored dogs (black dogs included) find homes and loving families. Some of the women inside are given the opportunity to train the dogs as a mutually-beneficial solution to both the inmates’ emotional isolation and the dogs’ behavioral problems.

Many of the women locked up inside for longer periods of time say that this program has changed their lives.

Here’s what inmate dog trainer Jordan Shaver said:

”When you’re locked up it’s really hard to have too many emotions toward people you don’t know. And it’s hard to get close to people. Now I definitely have a better perspective on other people, like just caring for people more and being more patient with people because you can give love and affection to a dog, but you can give that to people, too.”

The dogs get to sleep in the kennels and they are housed in the prison itself. Black dogs are usually less likely to be adopted due to a problem known as the Black Dog Syndrome, a disputed phenomenon in which lighter-colored animals are much more preferred than their dark-colored counterparts.

So basically, this is a win-win-win situation. The inmates can better themselves with the help of the dogs, the dogs get sheltered and are taught tricks and skills, and future owners definitely like dogs that have had eight weeks of training, so they are more likely to be satisfied with their new pet.