Shelter Dog Finds Home After Wise Leap Into Truck

Jason Coronado was delivering packages in his job as a UPS driver on Oct. 5 when Ernie, a pitbull-terrier mix, hopped into his truck—and didn't want to leave. "Usually dogs aren't a big fan of the big brown truck," Coronado tells WKBW, but Ernie seemed right at home. The dog was living at New York's Buffalo City Animal Shelter at the time, and was on a walk with a shelter volunteer when they ran across Coronado, who was parked and on a break, the Dodo reports. After they parted ways, Coronado couldn't stop thinking about Ernie.

The dog had been waiting to find a home since August, and more than a month after meeting him, Coronado found out via social media that Ernie was still at the shelter. "I wanted him to have a good home," he says, and after discussing it with the rest of his family, they all agreed. Last week, the Coronados officially adopted Ernie, just in time for the holidays. "He is very joyful," Coronado says of the new family member. "I'm upset I didn't take him home earlier." (After another pitbull's owner died, the dog ended up with his favorite UPS driver.)