I feel for you people who live in areas where soooo many loose dogs are. I experience the same thing when I'm in Seattle....well, not Seattle so much, but up north when I'm at my ex's. It's just awful.
Back home in Idaho, on a hike in the woods, there's hardly ever a dog. (just get stalked by deer, bear and such, but oh well) Sometimes we do a leash walk, just for the heck of it. My dogs have acreage but they still think they've been given the moon when I ask them if they wanna go for a walk. It's like the highlight of their day. We go almost every day...sometimes skip a day or two, depending. And in the hot summer, we do a lot less.
But yeah...the stimulation of novel sights, sounds and scents are heaven for dogs. It's not so much about exercise. They can get that in lots of ways. It's just a nice change to their day. But it all depends on everyone's circumstances. If a dog is tearing around on a farm, digging up rodents, what could be more fun? They don't have to have a conventional leash walk to get what they need.
Lately, poor Jose`'s knees have really been bothering him so he's had to do a lot of resting. We'll have to see how he does. Maybe he'll end up having to have another surgery...poor thing. Toker really gets antsy if she doesn't get a walk, at least most days. And Chuli can go either way but does spin in circles and gets ecstatic when I get out her harness and leash. LOL. "Oh goodie!"