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As the holidays were in full swing over the past few weeks, countless people around the country ordered gifts online. It’s been a common sight to see delivery drivers leave a package at your front door.
But one woman got an extra-special delivery from her UPS driver: her lost dog.
Paula Odom, of Turtletown, Tennessee, is the owner of a 7-year-old Jack Russell Terrier named Pete. But when the dog ran off recently and didn’t come home, she feared she might never see her dog again.
“In that forest there are coyotes, there are bears… my fear was that Pete is not mountain-wise and wouldn’t know what to do in a situation like that and the chance we’d see him again was slim to none,” Odom told FOX Business, fearing the dog might’ve gotten lost in the nearby 500-acre Cherokee National Forest.
Time was of the essence — and the worried owner enlisted an unlikely stranger to help search: Darrell Slack, a 29-year-old UPS driver who was making his deliveries.
The driver offered to help look: “She told me, ‘Our dog’s gone’ and that he had escaped the front porch,” Darrell recalled. “I just told her, ‘We’ll find him.’”
Darrell kept an eye out for Pete while on the job, even taking an additional route to look for him. Then, as luck would have it, he spotted the lost dog.
“I just so happened I caught a glimpse of him in my peripheral vision,” Darrell told WRCBTV.
Also lucky was that Darrell was already prepared: he always carries dog treats in his truck, to give out to pets on his route: “You have some that initially don’t want to warm up to you, but after you feed them for a week or so, they’re running to the truck, they’re glad to see you,” he says.
That was the case for Pete: the driver used the treat to win the dog’s trust, allowing him to grab hold of the dog’s still-attached leash.
After securing the lost dog, Darrell made an extra special delivery, personally bringing the dog back home to a very grateful owner.
“As he held Pete in his arms I just about collapsed,” Paula told FOX. “I was overjoyed.”
“He means joy, a lot of fun, and he is the love of my life,” she told WRCBTV. “I was absolutely in tears and just thought I’d never see him again.
It was definitely an above-and-beyond job for this UPS driver, but he was happy to help. He says the neighborhood is his “home away from home,” and he’s always happy to help the kind locals.
“I just feel like I’m part of the community, I was just able to help out a friend or neighbor,” Darrell said.
We’re so glad this dog is home safe and sound, all thanks to this kind delivery driver! What an inspiring act of kindness.
