A shelter dog named Dawson has won hearts online for breaking out of a West Virginia animal shelter.

Surveillance video captured the moment a dog named Dawson slipped out of his locked kennel at a West Virginia animal shelter, before using his teeth to unlock the front door and run away.

A clip of a dog's unlikely breakout has been seen millions of times.

"When Riley Riot was a puppy, she could escape anything," the dog's owner told Newsweek.