It’s always heartbreaking when a dog goes missing, but it’s important to not lose hope — sometimes they’ll return to you when you’re least expecting them.

That was the case recently, after a scared dog ran away, but made her way home in the most hilariously unexpected way.

Mary Lynn, from Greensville, South Carolina, is the owner of a dog named Rajah.

But like many dogs, Rajah is scared of fireworks… which led to a scary situation recently, after the sound of a fireworks display caused her to run off.

“She was in the backyard with our other dog and our neighbour started shooting off fireworks and I knew she’d be scared,” Mary told SWNS. “I went to the backyard – and she was gone.”

For the rest of the night, Mary and her husband Ryan searched the neighbor hood for their missing dog, contacting shelters and posting on social media.

Hours passed with no luck. But then, at 3 am, they heard the doorbell ring… and it was Rajah!

Rajah had been off on her own for over 7 hours, but the smart pup not only found her way home, but somehow knew how to use the doorbell!

“I don’t even know how she knew how to do that, I’ve never shown her how,” Mary said.

“She doesn’t go out in the front yard, except to the car, so she’s never seen us use the doorbell.”

Luckily, Ryan was still awake, and was there to answer the door to let her in. It’s not clear what the pup was up to while she was away, but Mary thinks she had quite an adventure.

“She had thorns on her and seemed to have rolled in poop,” she told SWNS. “So, it seems like she had a great time.”

They were thrilled to have her home. The video of the smart dog ringing the doorbell, captured on their Ring camera, has now gone viral after the owners posted it on Reddit.