It was a great escape, as a very clever dog named Dawson, slipped out of his locked kennel at the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter in West Virginia. But that wasn’t all!
It had been on January 5, 2026 when the brindle-coated Dawson opened his cage and unlocked the shelter’s front door.
In a Facebook post, the shelter admitted this was one very clever pooch.
This guy is much smarter than he looks. Not only did he get out of his locked kennel, he managed to UNLOCK THE FRONT DOOR and leave!
And this is how he did it; he used his paws to open his kennel. Then he walked to the shelter’s front door and unlocked it with his teeth. After turning the lock using his teeth and tongue, Dawson pushed the front door open and walked out into the night.
Check out the great escape:
As amazing as Dawson’s great escape had been, which garnered over 4 million views, shared 85,000 times, and gotten 8,000 comments, many commenters accused the shelter of using AI for attention. Some comments blamed the shelter for being a terrible and insecure place for a dog’s safety. The shelter defended itself, calling the accusations false and hurtful.
Today’s update says Dawson has been found and is safe!
Dawson was lost, and then he was found. He had an amazing story, and that story has a happy ending. Not all of them do, and that is why the shelter is asking for donations:
Following are 10 reasons to help. We hope you agree:
1) We’re an open intake shelter so we take any animal if there’s space.
2) We don’t have a lot of money (1/3 of our peers)
3) Government budget cuts shredded $150,000 from the shelter this year.
4) Everything is more expensive for all of us, and vet care costs rose more than general inflation.
5) We went from 2,847 animals in 2023 to a staggering 4,763 in 2025.
Almost FIVE THOUSAND ANIMALS!!!
That’s 67% more animals just since 2023!!!
6) West Virginians don’t have it easy and times are hard.
7) Even with all that, we’re a nationally recognized “No-Kill” shelter, for 3 years in a row
8 ) Even with 6.7 MILLION views on our own, and many media mentions and stories from coast to coast… we’ve only raised $11,000.
9) We love animals so much that we can’t be too proud to beg.
10) Dawson’s escape was incredible, and we’re never going to have another video go that viral so we have to ask while you’re looking.
donate.hcwanimalshelter.com/in-honor-of-dawson
According to the shelter’s fundraiser to support Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter for Dawson will be placed with a “seasoned” dog owner.
Welcome back Dawson. You are quite the clever pooch.
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