Either your dogs and cats are really, really dumb, or you are just extremely lucky. It's like ingenious toddlers -- if you haven't had one of those two-year-olds who will drag a kitchen stool across to a cabinet, stack books on the counter, and stand on them to open the cabinet and get at the door key in a magnetic box under the coffeemaker on the top shelf, you just don't understand. My son did this - he's now a U.S. Marine where he can put his ingenuity to good use, but he gave us a lot of gray hairs and near heart attacks.
My dogs and cats sit around all day long scheming to get out the door. Occasionally they succeed, although they don't as a rule get very far. However, my 14 pound Blue Point Attack Siamese used to push screens out of upstairs windows and climb down a tree, from whence he would terrorize all the neighborhood dogs until I retrieved him.
-—My dogs and cats sit around all day long scheming to get out the door.-—
Mine too - and the 4 lb cat (vs. the 70 lb Pit Bull) is by far the most dangerous. The pittie would lick a burgler and then help him carry out the loot. Dumb dog.
All things considered, I think I'd take my chances against your cat over the Rottie.
I am always worried my corgi will get out of the backyard, so I watch him like a hawk. However, his shots are up to date and he is registered with the city. I don't know every detail of the retiree with the Rottweilers, but he should certainly have their rabies shots up to date. Pet ownership is a great responsibility, particularly with a large and potentially dangerous breed like a Rottweiler.
When my Bulldog was much younger he escaped and I was sick looking for him, turns out he had wandered to a neighbors house, entered through his dog door and went up to the man’s bedroom. My neighbor had just stepped out of the shower and was drying off, looking straight at his Boxer when he felt something lick the back of his leg, scared the you know what out of him. He thought it was the funniest thing!
We also had a little pug that was like Houdini, a landscaping truck was parked doing work at my neighbors across the street, he jumped into the guys truck and popped up next to him while the man was driving home!