When Angie, my Shih Tzu, was alive I used to let her walk from the corner to our backyard (we are the second house from the corner) I think she felt special when she did it, but I would never go for a whole walk without a leash. (Jeez, just typing that made me miss her so much) I'm certainly not telling you that taking your dogs for walks without leashes is wrong, but you have to remember that they are still animals. They have instincts and you never know when they will act on those instincts. I was more afraid that something would happen to Angie as opposed to her actually hurting anyone else.

Harley loves Sylvia and the dog next door, but hates his Shih Tzu cousin. The Shih Tzu is the nicest dog of the ones Harley is in contact with, but he just doesn't like him. The JRT in your neighborhood probably isn't a bad dog, but your dogs just don't like him. Same thing goes in the human world. Ever meet someone that rubs you funny, but never actually did anything wrong to you? Same thing. To keep your dogs and everyone's dogs safe you should consider using a leash.