PEOPLE Pets | Sit. Stay. Play!

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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Happy National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week! This week, Nov. 1-7, is the time to show our local rescues and shelters how much we appreciate the work they do. We've teamed up with Romeo the Cat and Big Paw Designs to recognize animals and the people who are making a difference in their community.

With days running out, it's important to thank all the readers who submitted their acts of kindness to Romeo — as well as the countless others who volunteer their time and affection for shelter pets every day!

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When Maj. Brian Dennis led an 11-man U.S. Marine counterinsurgency force through Iraq, the last thing he thought he'd find was a friend. But one four-legged furball was just too determined to give up on companionship. Dennis met Nubs — a wild mixed-breed pup who earned his nickname due to his cruelly clipped ears — in October 2007. The two shared a plate of spaghetti and a tummy rub, and parted ways. But the persistent pup had other plans.

Over the next four months, the dog would surprise Dennis, 38, and his team by showing up each time they returned to their base. Though interacting with wild animals was prohibited by military rules, it was hard to resist the cute pooch. "There was something endearing about him," Dennis tells PEOPLE.

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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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That 3-year-old Andre is even alive is a miracle. That he can do one of his favorite things—chase after a tennis ball—shows what a little silicone and a lot of love can do.

A sweet-natured, jet-black Alsatian-Rottweiler mix, Andre survived a nightmare in the woods near his home in Wasilla, Alaska, last May. He went for a walk on his own and stepped into an illegal hunting trap, which snapped around his left front and back legs. Hopelessly snared and desperate, Andre did what he had to do to stay alive—he chewed through both paws to free himself. A hiker followed a trail of blood and found Andre beneath an overturned camper trailer, hiding, frightened, near death.

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When an animal rescue center is a mere five minutes down the road, why would someone ditch two dogs in a dumpster instead? This awful act happened on Oct. 25 in Monterey, Calif.

A local citizen happened to walk by a Wells Fargo Bank dumpster in the Del Rey Oaks area when he heard whimpering nearby. Poking around, the Good Samaritan found two pit bull mix puppies alone and abandoned. Quick on his feet, the gentleman rushed them down the road to the SPCA for Monterey County.

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Many animal-loving kids grow up with the dream of opening their own sanctuary, a haven for rescue animals. Animal expert Corbin Maxey made that dream a reality when he was just 12-years-old. Working with his parents' 55 acres of land, he founded the Cyprus Hill Reptile Reserve in Meridian, Idaho, and his passion for rescuing exotic animals later helped him land his own local TV show, Live with the Reptile Guy, and several appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, all while he was still in his teens.

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