Don't ever strip the leaves in zone 9, Rosemary. I have never forced dormancy and many of the roses in my garden are more than 30 years old. One of the hybrid teas is almost 90 years old and still going strong. If that isn't a show of "long-term health," I don't know what is.
Here's an article I wrote about rose pruning a few years ago. This should answer some of your questions.
https://garden.org/ideas/view/...
