We didn't do too much waving growing up in NYC ..unless you were pissed at someone or needed a cab. My first foray into waving at perfect strangers began when we started vacationing on Vinalhaven, a small island in the Penobscot bay. Seemed a bit odd at first but I started to wave back.
We've been walking our Airedale terrior for many years now in our community here in suburban NJ, on the weekends, in the mornings usually. We used to do four miles, but Henry is getting up in years so we're down to about 2.5. If you're not familiar with airedales, they have a bright sort of comical look about them. We often notice a smile coming to the faces of passers by when they "clock" the airdale. Over the years, through our long weekend morning walks, we've become familiar to the community and folks, strangers really, often wave to us and we wave back.