Have you noticed that when humans who are down on their luck help challenged animals, it’s usually a win-win situation?

Every two months at a state correctional institution in Pennsylvania, six dogs are brought in from a local shelter and assigned to a pair of inmates. Most of the dogs have behavior problems that interfere with their adoption—and that’s where the prisoners come in.

As the inmates train the dogs, many find themselves healing as well. Just as most of these shelter dogs were abandoned, so some inmates feel they were rejected by family or society. But as the prisoners bring out the best in their canine soulmates, many find their better selves at the same time.

Of the 122 dogs trained over the past five years, only one has not been adopted. Those are great odds for so-called misfit animals—and their caring humans.