What about the good ol' roasted bones or knuckles (i.e. from Merrick)? We had some old chewed up ones, with just the middle part left, picked clean by previous residents, and Denna LOVES those. She barks at them and rolls around on the grass with them. She also likes the knuckle bone slices, which I think are a little safer for her to chew on. Some of her other favorites in the yard are things she finds... like plants in their plastic nursery containers (the containers are soooo much fun after you shake the plants out of them
) and sticks... as long as they've been buried at least 1 ft deep in a corner somewhere. We actually do let her have plastic water bottles - those make fun noises (for the dog) and can be flipped around easily. I've thought about getting/making her a spring pole, but so far, we haven't needed to go quite that far to keep her entertained. We can wear her out playing fetch a few times across the back yard 2x or 3x a day. We have a jolly ball with a handle and a canvas retriever to play fetch with. We also have an indestructaball, but she gets bored with that when she can't pick it up. We have a soft kid-sized soccer ball that she likes a lot better, 'cause she can carry it around - we do fetch with that one, too.
There are also specialty toys - the "everlasting treat ball" (which lasts about 15-20 minutes at our house, we have the medium size).
Or there's a whole series of "Busy buddy" toys. We have the "twist n treat" and "Bristle bone" versions. The "bouncy bone" is also a good one - all with places to put refillable rawhide rings to get the dog started.
---------- Post added at 05:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------
I hear Denna munching on something in the backyard right now, which reminds me of another favorite.... PINE CONES!
We have TONS here... we live in a suburban forest... but her favorite are the extra large cones from the ponderosas, found about 2 hours East of us. We brought home 3 from a camping trip this summer, and she's just now getting to enjoy the last one. She goes NUTS for them. Flips them all over the yard, chasing them... then crunches all the pieces off, better than any squirrel could do!