At about 2:30 a.m., a shelter dog named Dawson escaped from his gated enclosure and then used his teeth to open the front door of the animal shelter in West Virginia, slipping quietly into the night.
When staff at Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter arrived at about 5 a.m. on Jan. 4, they were puzzled to find the front door unlocked.
“We just thought the last person had forgotten to lock the door, which would be very unusual,” said Courtney Proctor Cross, the shelter director.
The shelter was hosting an adoption event and didn’t immediately notice that Dawson — one of about 130 dogs at the shelter — had disappeared.
“There was a lot of movement … 80 dogs got adopted,” Proctor Cross said.
The following morning, though, staff realized Dawson — a 5-year-old pit bull mix — was missing. They watched surveillance video and were awed by his shrewd escape.
“We’ve not had anything happen like that before,” Proctor Cross said. “That is one smart little dog.”
The surveillance video shows Dawson, who is about 48 pounds, pushing his enclosure open, then jumping on his hind legs at the front door and gnawing on the lock until it turns.
“He must have opposable thumbs or something, because he managed to get his gate clip unlocked,” Proctor Cross said, noting that upon inspection, she saw bite marks on the front-door lock.
Dawson arrived at the shelter on Dec. 31, after he was picked up by animal control officers. They had received a call about an abandoned dog in a home, Proctor Cross said, but they ended up bringing two more — including Dawson — to the shelter.
The three dogs were found inside the same home about a mile away from the shelter, Proctor Cross said, and the property manager who let the officers in told them to take all three dogs. No one was at home at the time. Dawson appeared to be taken care of and did not show signs of neglect, Proctor Cross said.
After watching the video, shelter staff contacted animal control officers and began a search. They posted photos of Dawson on social media and put up fliers around the community. They also posted the surveillance video of his getaway, and it quickly went viral with millions of views and thousands of comments. People were shocked by Dawson’s clever exit.
“He’s clearly paid a lot of attention and been super observant with his surroundings,” someone commented.
“Does this prove he was human at some point,” another person wrote.
“Houdini dog. So smart,” someone else added.
People also accused the shelter of using artificial intelligence to create the video, since the dog’s actions were so impressive.
“There was no AI involved at all,” Proctor Cross said about the video, which was picked up by local and national news outlets.
“I was not thinking this would become a viral thing,” she said.
Proctor Cross said people in the community rallied to search for Dawson. There were several reported sightings, but none of them checked out. A few days after he escaped, someone commented on the shelter’s Facebook page that Dawson’s name is Rufus and that he is home safe.
“If he was smart enough to do all of that … we thought maybe he went home,” Proctor Cross said.
Through a colleague in the rescue community, Proctor Cross learned that the woman who left the comment is a friend of Rufus’s owner. Proctor Cross said she has not spoken directly with the owner, but the woman sent a video of Rufus to confirm he is the same dog that went missing. The video, reviewed by The Washington Post, shows a dog with the same markings as Dawson wagging his tail, while someone pets him and says lovingly “the smartest dog on the planet” and “good boy.”
“It is indeed him,” Proctor Cross said.
Proctor Cross said she learned through her colleague that Rufus’s owner was temporarily staying at a house when animal control got a tip about an abandoned dog there. That is how animal control officers came across Rufus, and 2 other dogs, and ended up taking the three to the shelter.
Proctor Cross said the owner’s living situation, or why he was staying in someone else’s house, is unclear, but her colleague said Rufus’s owner clearly loves him and was upset to have lost him. The Washington Post was not able to contact Rufus’s owner.
“We’ve reached out to the contact to let the owner know that we would love to provide him with a food, a bed, whatever he needs,” Proctor Cross said. “There are still a lot of questions that may or may not be answered.”
She said that the other two dogs are in good hands and that she is relieved Rufus is safe. She remains astonished by his smarts.
“He’s kind of famous now,” Proctor Cross said.
The post Video shows dog outsmarting lock on shelter door to escape and run home appeared first on Washington Post.
