At 2:30 a.m., a 5-year-old pit bull mix named Dawson made his move.

Inside the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter, he pushed open his kennel, jumped onto his hind legs, and worked the front-door lock with his teeth until it turned. Then he slipped outside and ran into the dark, according to surveillance footage reviewed by The Washington Post.

When staff arrived later that morning, they were puzzled to find the shelter’s front door unlocked.

Photo: YouTube/WflaNewsChannel8

Surveillance Tells the Story

Video later showed Dawson opening two secured barriers on his own. He first disengaged the clip on his kennel gate. Then he gnawed and twisted the shelter’s front-door lock until it released, DNYUZ reports.

Shelter director Courtney Proctor Cross said staff initially assumed human error. “We just thought the last person had forgotten to lock the door, which would be very unusual,” she told reporters.

After reviewing the footage, staff found bite marks on the lock that confirmed Dawson’s method.

“We’ve not had anything happen like that before,” Proctor Cross said. “That is one smart little dog.”

Photo: YouTube/WflaNewsChannel8

How Dawson Ended Up There

Dawson arrived at the shelter days earlier after animal control officers responded to a report of an abandoned dog at a nearby home. Inside, they found three dogs and brought all of them to the shelter, according to HuffPost.

Staff noted that Dawson appeared healthy and cared for, with no signs of neglect.

A Viral Escape and a Search

Once the shelter shared the surveillance video online, it spread quickly. Viewers questioned whether it was real. Others joked about opposable thumbs.

“This guy is much smarter than he looks,” the shelter wrote in a social media post, urging the public to help bring him back safely, WFLA reports. “Not a life on the streets.”

Sightings followed, but none panned out.

The Run Home

Days later, a comment on the shelter’s page offered an explanation. Dawson, the commenter said, was actually named Rufus — and he was home.

Through contacts in the rescue community, Proctor Cross received a video confirming it was the same dog.

“If he was smart enough to do all of that,” she told the The Washington Post, “we thought maybe he went home.”

He had.