PEOPLE Pets | Sit. Stay. Play!

Last year, Yvonne Bartram's vet told her that two breeding mares on her farm in England were barren, unlikely to ever conceive again. Luckily, he was wrong, twice! Six weeks ago, the 13-year-old mare named Sofie gave birth to twins, and the other, a 19-year-old named Elbe, is expecting for the second time since the diagnosis.

When Bartram, 47, was told her mares were barren, she thought she might sell Sofie as a riding horse —the mare had been an international show jumper before she began breeding. But one day, Bartram's farrior pointed out that the horse "looked a bit heavy." A different vet performed a scan and confirmed that the mare was seven months in foal.

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Six nights a week, Gregory Popovich stuns Las Vegas audiences with his "Comedy Pet Theater" routine. Using well-trained rescue animals, the Russian circus performer leads crazy stunts — like cats jumping rope and dogs competing in physical education class.

Producer Jim Friedman found Popovich's story so compelling that he included it in the new TV special Tales for the Pet Lover's Heart, airing Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on WGN America. Tales focuses on the bond between six humans and their pets, including a fire captain, a surfing owner-dog duo (above) and more. "The people we looked for are regular people, but they really do love their pets as if they're part of the family," Friedman tells PEOPLEPets.com. "And what's amazing is while they're doing these extraordinary things to help animals in need, they stay completely humble."

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The plan, says Alayne Marker of the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary, was for her and her husband to work until retirement age, then start on their dream of building a haven dedicated to disabled animals. But dreams sometimes have a funny way of not waiting to come true.

In 2000, rather than working for another 10 to 15 years and then retiring, Marker and her husband Steve Smith quit well-paying jobs at the Boeing Company in Seattle and started the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Montana. "In 1998, we had bought 160 acres of land in the Blackfoot River Valley," she explains to PEOPLEPets.com. "We were going to keep working at Boeing, but once we bought the land, we realized we couldn't wait. The time for the animals was that time."

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She may be the only Goblin who brings people together instead of scaring them away. This little mix-breed dog rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico isn't just another set of ears for Ray Dobson of Orleans, Mass.: The animal is helping him regain social interactions in the wake of his hearing loss. "My wife saw me kind of dropping out," Dobson tells the AP. "As people get deafer they get more anti-social." Now, "he's back in the mainstream," says his wife Joanne.

Goblin jumps on Dobson to let him know others are calling his name and alerts him when the phone rings, alarms go off, visitors knock or other noises surface. Her mere presence as Dobson's hearing dog helps observers better understand his situation and take more time to communicate with him. She also leads Dobson to the source of sounds. "What the dog does for me is hear what I can't hear," he says.

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You can't say we didn't warn you: The two most adorable pups in the world are featured in this video Mario Lopez shot exclusively for PEOPLEPets.com! The 9-week-old siblings are just some of the adoptable dogs the Extra host has met on his quest to find a pooch to call his own. As any pet-owner will tell you, selecting a pet is one of the biggest decisions you can make, and he needs your advice -- what kind of pooch should he adopt? Should he take one of these cuties home? Watch this video and leave your thoughts in our comments!

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Animal shelters know that black cats are targets around Halloween - so they try to keep them safe from adoption over the holiday. But unfortunately, they can't protect all of them from senseless pranks. One innocent black feline survived a sick acid attack by an unknown assailant over the weekend, and is now under the care of rescuers at the Alpharetta Animal Hospital in Alpharetta, Ga.

Nicknamed Sweetie Pie, the 8-week-old Persian long-hair mix was found outside an apartment complex on Oct. 31 by local resident Genesis Burroughs, who heard distressed purring. Burroughs brought the injured feline into her home, but knew that the cat's injuries were more than she could handle, medically and financially. So, she called out for help by putting an ad up on CraigsList.com.

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When former San Francisco Chronicle writer Steven Winn let his daughter adopt a rescue dog in 2003, he had no idea what he was in for. "She saw something in this dog right from the start, but I still don't know what it was," he tells PEOPLEPets.com of mixed-breed pup Como. "He was scrawny, scraggly and completely terrified. And he definitely hadn't been bathed in a while. He came with a lot of baggage."

As it turns out, Como had a major issue with men — Winn in particular. "He wouldn't be in the same room with me," Winn says. "We had a rough start, to put it mildly. It was a blow to my ego." He wrote about his adventures with Como in the Chronicle, and almost immediately, saw an overwhelming response. "People were sympathetic, entertained, and instructive of how we should be dealing with our dog. Some people were even angry with me," he shares. And from there, a book was born.

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