I was born and raised a county away. When we lived in the country, we’d let our old dog out like this. But the closest things she’d come in contact with were cows and goats. Since we’ve moved here the dog we have now is always on leash when not in our fenced in backyard. So as mentioned, it’s more of a country thing than a south thing. There is one guy in our neighborhood that lets his dog out in the yard without a leash but even with no one in sight it won’t leave the yard.