My grandparent's lab was a "free roaming" dog. They had no fence and he stayed outside all day without being tied up. The difference was they live on a farm. He stayed with my grandpa most of the day but walked across the road to see my sister and me and play in the fields. He was never in any danger. All the dogs around there were free roaming farm dogs. We lived miles out of town and there wasn't anywhere for him to wander to, (okay so he could've wondered several miles into town had he wanted to, but he never did). There was always someone there to look out for him, if my grandparents weren't home there was my parents, my uncle, my great uncle, my great aunt, my cousin, the list goes on. It was a big dairy farm and the whole family lived right in a row. He always came in at night. I personally think it was an awesome life for him, he lived to be 14 years old and he was one of the happiest dogs in the world.