Escapers

Greetings,
We have 2 rescued dogs. We've had a schnauzer mix (Duchess)for about 6 years who has problems we take with a grain of salt.
We inherited this other giant Norfolk terrier (Annie) from an in-law about 3 years ago. Who was a street dog. They are both "fixed"

Problem: Annie has taught Duchess to escape the back yard. Annie literally digs under our wood fence, gnaws off wood on the bottom to escape. They DO come back after a few hours, but my neighbors are getting tired of it.

Now I know many will say these dogs need interaction, walking, etc. The real life problem is that me and my 3 sons give them interaction during the day. Now I have to coop them up in the garage because we live in the city and Animal Control already threatened me with liability if these dogs cause an accident. I feel like Annie has been previously programmed to run off for what ever reason. Maybe I'm looking for a magic cure , but some real advice would be greatly appreciated.

It's not at all unusual for dogs to try to escape yards if they're out there alone. IMO, it IS a little unusual that Duchess has never tried to escape the yard.

You only have a couple of options here: 1.) Leaving the dogs confined in the house/garage/crate/whatever while you're gone during the day, to prevent the problem from happening. 2.) Try putting up a chainlink fence that Annie can't chew out of (though she'll probably start digging under then).

Unfortunately, this behavior is never going to be un-learned. Yeah, exercise and stuff helps, but at this point, if she wants to get out for whatever reason, she knows how and she'll do it. It doesn't matter why she's doing it.... The fact that she was a stray at one time tells me that she likely escaped the yards of her previous owners, so this is a behavior that was probably learned before you even got her.