Family couldn't imagine who was ringing doorbell at 3 am, turns out it was their missing dog

Everybody likes to believe their dog is the smartest in the world. But who can say their dog understands how to not only return home on their own but also how to alert their owners of their presence in the cleverest way possible?

Rajah, a dog owned by South Carolina residents Mary Lynn Whitacre and Ryan Washick, absolutely knew how to get her owners' attention, even in the middle of the night. And now, people can't stop talking about her amazing story!

A Catahoula Leopard Dog/Labrador Retriever mix, Rajah had only been living in her owners' new South Carolina home for a little over a year before her harrowing tale began. On the night of July 4th, she was immediately scared by the fireworks going off around her. Before her owners knew what was happening, she took off.

Whitacre and Washick saw she had run out of their house in distress and tried to chase after her, but they quickly lost track of their pet. While they mentioned in a recent interview that Rajah had gotten out before, usually it only took them five or ten minutes to find her. This time, they weren't so lucky.

They posted about their lost dog on Facebook, searched for her and told friends and neighbors where she might likely be. Whitacre believed she was probably nearby, but after several hours, they still couldn't find her. They went home, hoping they would have better luck in the morning.

Around three in the morning, however, they received the best surprise they could have asked for. Washick described hearing the doorbell and thinking "maybe someone had brought back our dog." But when he went to the door, he found Rajah herself without any need for a rescuer. Not only had she come back home, but she'd used her nose to ring the couple's doorbell, an act that was captured on their Ring camera!

Ecstatic, Whitacre and Washick brought their clever pup inside. Apparently, they had no idea Rajah even knew how to ring the doorbell, as they rarely used it since moving in. Also, with Rajah being a strictly indoor dog, she wouldn't have watched anyone use the device from the outside, so how did she figure it out?

This story continues to thrill those who hear it and to cause speculation for how exactly Rajah understood the ways of the doorbell. And especially because she was adopted as a rescue pup, one can't help but love the tale of the dog who, eventually, rescued herself.