UPS driver finds customer’s missing dog and takes him back home amid busy deliveries

A UPS driver went above and beyond his job, he made a ‘special delivery service’ to a customer during the holidays.

Darrell Slack said he was in the middle of a busy day carrying Christmas package deliveries on Cyber Monday when Paula Odom, a Turtletown, Tennessee, resident, alerted him about her missing Jack Russell Terrier.

Paula told him that their seven-year-old dog, Pete, had escaped their front porch and hadn’t come home since.

Darrell, who has been a UPS driver for 29 years, assured the worried pet owner that he would find Pete.

The woman explained that the pop was a runner, and she feared that he had wandered into the 500-plus acres of the Cherokee National Forest surrounding their residence.

“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,” Paula told FOX Business.

Her husband, Perry, had tried to find Pete but was unsuccessful, so Paula had to ask help from someone outside. And that person happened to be Darrell.

Despite his hectic schedule, the gracious driver agreed to assist in the search and said he would keep an eye out for Pete. He even took an additional route to look for him.

Thankfully, he found the dog in no time. As he approached a nearby remote area, Darrell caught a glimpse of Pete in his peripheral vision. He found the lost dog near the woods.

Luckily, Darrell always comes prepared for this kind of situation. The driver keeps dog biscuits in his UPS truck in case he needs to befriend a neighborhood dog during his deliveries.

“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 told WRCBtv.

That’s exactly what happened with Pete. When he offered the canine a treat and called his name, the pup came over, and Darrell was able to grab hold of his still-attached leash and take him inside his vehicle.

With a furry companion onboard, Darrell finished his remaining deliveries before driving back to Paula’s address to make the extra special delivery.

“As he held Pete in his arms I just about collapsed,” Paula recalled. “I was overjoyed.”

“He means joy, a lot of fun, and he is the love of my life,” she said. “I was absolutely in tears and just thought I’d never see him again.

Paula said it was a special delivery service and “by far the best package” she has ever received.

“It speaks volumes — especially right now at Christmas,” she said of Darrell.

As for the driver who made the special delivery service, who said he knows what it’s like to have lost a dog, he doesn’t want to take too much credit for what he did.

Darrell said he just happened to be “at the right place at the right time,” and he didn’t do anything that the people in that neighborhood wouldn’t do for him. He’s just glad that the Odoms didn’t have to spend the holidays worrying about their missing pup.

“This area is a home away from home for me and a lot of drivers feel the same way,” he said. “I just love these people and when I need them, they’re there for me.”

We’re so glad that this dog made it home just in time for Christmas—and it’s all thanks to a kind delivery driver who took time out of his busy day to find him!

Learn more about this story in the video below.

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