What can I put in my fenced yard to entertain these dogs?

I would go with a platform they could hop up to or walk a ramp up to. Dogs, like so many animals, like to survey the area.
I have seen people hang a section of rope, the old kind, not synthetic, and let them jump at it, hang from it, bark at it.
Balls, lots of balls even punctured are okay, those kind are easier to pick up. The inflated rolling ones of different sizes and weights, so they roll or bounce at different speeds. A floppy old rug they can drag around and tease each other with should also go over well.

My dog loves her sand box where she buries all her raw hides and sits in the cool sand to cool off on hot days. She also LOVES her rope….I gave her 10 feet off 1” thick rope, tied a loop and a couple big knots and she just has a blast with the rope. She also seems to love having access to a pile of logs that she will grab one and narf on it in the middle of the yard. She also has a couple of large balls (12–15” diameter) that have grabbing holes or loops that she loves to chase around the yard. We also have a lot of trees/woods that she has carved out her own obstacle course she tears through to burn off steam. I also have a bird feeder that attracts both birds and squirrels and what dog doesn’t like squirrels to chase?

Get a tennis ball machine and train them to retrieve the balls and drop them back into the basket which feeds them into the machine to be thrown again. Use plenty of balls. Then kick back in your lawn chair, pour your favorite drink, and root for the home team: Atta boy! Go get it! Go get it! Gooooooood boooooy!

Boomer balls are great for outdoors. I like the idea of a sandbox, too, as long as they don’t ingest excessive amounts of it. The biggest key to any toy, however, is to make sure to rotate them – any toy quickly becomes old if it’s always present.

I don’t know about toys but a couple of live chickens will do.

@Hypocrisy_Central , Axel already killed one of th neighbors chickens. :-(

@syz , I went to buy some of those boomer balls. They were expensive but I thought I would try. hen I went to check out the shipping was almost as much as the balls! They did have one on amazon.com that was on prime so i bought that one instead.

@Judi The company used to advertise them as indestructible, but they had to stop after we used them for tigers.

I think if you get a sandpile put in, lay out a bunch of toys to be covered when they dump the sand. Your babies will be digging like crazy to find all their happy things.

A lot of great answers!

A couple of variations: you could have a couple poles set and put a knotted rope hanging from one and a ball on a rope from another. That also gives you great places to mount the squirrel & bird feeders.

Kongs – filled with peanut butter occupy my hounds for a long time.

Hubby is excited about building a ramp. We don’t have any cats so do you think it would be OK to kist make a sandbox out of a wooden frame or should we get a plastic covered one like they do for kids these days?

Is there an incline on the fenced property, @Judi? If you played it right, you could enclose a sandbox in a wooden frame (3 sides?) that doubled as a ramp on one side? Economy/sandbox/ramp.

^^^^^^^^ SWEET!!!!

@Judi I would opt for the covered sandbox setup. Ours is an old kiddie slide platform play set that offers her much needed shelter from sun and rain that our dog loves on those extreme days. Plus she loves running up the slide to sit on the top deck where the kiddie pool is filled up for her to splash around in.

They should adjust eventually, a half acre is a big yard, even for two large, active dogs.
Be careful, when I moved the the mountains back in the early 90’s out dog got shot by a rancher after chasing his cows home that had escaped through a hole in the fence and were surrounding out house. It was ugly, but he lived.
In CA. and in my county here, it is legal to shoot dogs for worrying and harassing livestock.

You do not want them taking off like that, they may never come home again, and, being a hunting breed by nature if they run down somebodies horse or other livestock, maim them, run them into exhaustion, whatever, you could also be liable for damages.
There are signs posted all over my county here stating the above, that dogs worrying or harassing livestock can be shot.
I think the swimming pool (s), sandbox, toys, chew bones are a great idea. Also, you can throw balls and sticks for them to encourage running and burning off extra energy.
Good luck….my old dog did the same thing the first few months we were up in the hills here, he was a hound and he would take off for hours and we could hear him howling, probably treed a critter, but dogs running loose in the country/mountains is a huge no no!

@Coloma , that’s why we fenced in the area for them. We also fenced in a smaller area right off of the house so they can go out the doggie door and do their business at night but not escape. These are very athletic dogs so my little half acre fenced area is pretty small for them. They need some activities so they don’t get bored. We have 80 acres but they were running up to the neighbors property (160 acres above us) but they don’t live there full time. We are close to the Pacific Crest Trail and I think they may have gotten all the way up there too.
It’s a brand new fence so I’m sure it will contain them. It’s just remembering to close the doors to the house when they’re here so they don’t get loose that I have to be careful of.
A part of me feels bad forcing dogs that have this habit of running miles to stay in a little half acre yard.

We built the ramp and the platform today! We still need to weather seal it but the dogs had no problem going up and down it. It’s 4 feet high. I think they’ll like it and probably hang out underneath it for shade in the summer. :-)
Next project, the sand box. Thanks for all the ideas! Keep them coming!!

You’re a good doggy mom Judi! :-)
Don’t forget the beach umbrellas over their pools. lol

Maybe not such a good dog mommy @Coloma . The dogs were outside with hubby. Usually they don’t go anywhere when he’s out there. They took off again. Have been gone about 4 hours. Ugh. I hope they come home safe and soon. It’s going to be cold tonight.

@Judi Ugh,,is right! I remember many times waiting for my dog to come home and hoping he wouldn’t get shot. Eeeee…..have some wine and hope for the best. :-)

They’re back. Need to keep a closer eye on them from now on.