Owner Dies, Pit Bull Ends Up With His Favorite UPS Driver

California UPS driver Katie Newhouser befriended a woman on her route when she saw her out walking her dog. "Leo took a liking to me," Newhouser says of the pit bull. "He would even hop in my truck and look around the back." Then, in October, Newhouser found out Leo's owner, Tina Rummel, had died. Rummel's son, Canon, was in training to be a Marine, so Newhouser offered to take Leo in until his training was complete. "But after Christmas break, I decided that he was getting along so well with my other dogs that he should just stay," Newhouser tells Today, and thus Leo found his new forever home.

Canon, with whom Newhouser shares pictures of Leo on social media, was happy Leo had a loving home, and Newhouser's two other dogs were happy, too: Both had been "grumpy" at times, but they got happier when Leo moved in. "The whole vibe changed," Newhouser says. Their story started getting attention recently after Newhouser shared a picture of Leo sitting in her truck's driver's seat on the Facebook page UPS DOGS and then later shared their story with the PupJournal website, People reports. Newhouser tells the Dodo she knew Leo for a year before Rummel passed away. "He's one of the most gentle dogs I have ever met." (More uplifting news stories.)