Your post reminds me of one aspect of part of my childhood. A part of my childhood was in an Aboriginal community and it was Dog Dreaming Land in that community. What that meant was that the dogs could go just about everywhere and no-one could hurt dogs, which sounds nice, but it also meant dogs couldn't be put down either and the people there tended to not get them vet attention when ill either so it meant both some sad and some nice experiences for the dogs. Some dogs were healthy but some certainly weren't. The dogs did just pretty much walk around everywhere and some of them I think enjoyed getting pats from random people. I was one of the people patting all the dogs around the place. I remember patting them at school because the dogs could come into the school as they pleased, but some were really unhealthy and the poor things needed to see a vet but that didn't happen for them.

Unfortunately not hurting dogs didn't translate to taking care of them and getting them to a vet when necessary. And some were ill enough they should have been put down too but they wouldn't do that as that goes against the rules of dog dreaming land. The dogs being able to go everywhere and being more part of the community side of it was cool as a kid and I enjoyed patting them and playing with them as a kid, but the lack of care that came with it was saddening. If the dogs were part of the community so went where they pleased but the dogs got the care they deserved, it would have nicer, but that's just not how that community worked unfortunately. A community taking care of animals as opposed to one owner can work - I remember seeing that happening with a community of cats on a documentary - but these dogs were for the main part, not cared for very well.

It's good that you are doing something to help the dogs you see that have been neglected. That's a really good thing that you are doing. I hope the one you adopted settles in to your household and you have a lot of fun together.