Have you considered an invisible fence? Much less expensive than actual fencing and it works as long as the dog is trained to the fence. It does take some effort on your part to train the dog and not just send them out and let them get shocked. If you don't know what you are doing I suggest getting a brand name, installed fence that comes with training. Worth every penny.

I'm not sure what the consultant was thinking. Are you going to run around the yard and have her jump over obstacles or weave in and out around obstacles? Your either going to have to run with her or you could just play fetch. Get a 50' lead and don't throw the ball to far.

What kind of dog, what games does she enjoy? How old?

My dog and I go to agility classes. It’s a combined skill with both dog and the human working the obstacles together, really so much fun training together. I think constructing a weave pole obstacle from a wood base and wood poles could look natural in your yard. You can follow the specs of a professional set of weave poles. The other agility obstacles shouldn’t be handmade, however, because safety is of utmost importance so that the dog is never injured from faulty equipment.
Tunnels, A-Frames, wingless jumps all need to be constructed professionally since the dog leaps through them with a lot of speed.

You can do another type of activity, scent games, that could tire your dog out. Scatter different toys or treats or one special treat around the yard and follow your dog on a long leash (since the yard is not yet fenced.) We play this game every night and it tires out my active golden.

There are lots of 'build a dog agility course' hits. Many use PVC and of course you can also buy pre-fabricated products from the big A and others, though those are mostly plastic. It sounds like you have a beautiful setting, so I can certainly see why you would prefer to use use lumber and other more natural building products. We have an agility course at one of our local dog parks which can be very fun, though it may take a big of training and treats to get your dog to master them. One is a ramp up to a crossing and then a ramp down -maybe two-feet in diameter at the most. And there are a few gate type structures which can have the height raised or lowered with pieces of wood that slot in, and the dog jumps over them. In both of these cases, I'm picturing you having the dog on a 30' lead and running through the course with him. I think that would be a lot of fun for your dog. I"ve read that 'sniff work' can actually be quite exhausting for dogs too. There are kind of two ways to do this: One is to create a sniff-mat, which can be made with fabric, cardboard, etc., and then you place small treats within the mat so the dog has to work to sniff them out and get to them. The other method is to hide treats around the house and train the dog to go seek them out. This could be done outside too if you could create an overhead cable with a lead connected to your dog's harness o that the dog had a fair amount of free rein to go seeking out the treats.

I've done a lot of agility too. I'm curious about your goal for the obstacles. If you are interested in the actual sport of agility (which is a lot of fun and great dog-bonding), then anything homemade really isn't what you want. However, you can certainly utilize things like a downed tree-trunk to practice signalling the command to jump over or up on top of... or a single bendy sapling to begin teaching the dog to "go around" in either direction... essentially rewarding the dog with a tug toy pull for bravely offering behaviors based on your body language. But honestly, agility is a whole lot about training the handler. So much so, that I wonder what you're trying to accomplish here.

Most dogs will explore a woodsy backyard, but generally not going to run through tunnels or jump over things on their own.

OK, I re-read your post and I see you just need to keep your dog active. They need to walk a lot. Walk, hike, fetch, and also you can play a lot with tug toys as a reward for learning some behaviors, which could be simple things like shaking hands, or play dead, or as others have mentioned, some sniffy nose-work. Throwing a ball or a frisbee is great.

All of these things are (as others have stated) mental work in addition to the physical, and a working-breed dog would enjoy doing both. It does take a lot of dog-human interaction.

Thanks everyone! I’m just trying to give the dog physical activity that she enjoys. The yard is full of new scents every morning because of all the small wild animals that live around here. She needs more physical ”accomplishments”. And she needs to run. Just some, not a lot. I don’t run much for safety reasons. She is a herding breed, but not high energy, very obedient and calm on the outside, nervous on the inside which is what we are trying to address. The recommended solution was to get her physically worn out and praise her for physical accomplishments.

We’ll explore a lot of your ideas.

One thought I had was to try circling like people do with a horse. I haven’t found videos on that for dogs yet. The flirt pole might be a possibility if I can figure out how to handle the leash. Maybe I saw the flirt pole in the horse video? I’ll have to go back and check. I do remember that the horse didn’t look like he was having fun.

She’ll chase a ball about five times and play tug about 3 times before wanting to do something else. She enjoys climbing furniture and steps. At our old house, she would ”tunnel” under the low branches of pine trees and jump up the retaining wall, run and climb up and down the steps to the deck, chase squirrels that ran along the fence top, explore the perimeter of the yard. She is mildly food motivated.

I just ordered the flirt pole.

I’ll try to think of ways to use the deck. It’s about 24-30 inches high and doesn’t have balusters - it needs to be remodeled. I’m thinking about built-in benches. Maybe I can do a temporary dog ramp or something. I will use existing wood for the decking so it won’t cost much or take as much time as the big fence.

I have some temporary metal fence posts that are probably not good enough for a fence, but could be weave poles, if I could figure out how to manage the leash. I don’t know how interested she is in weave poles. We also have trees, but I need to clear some of the ground.

If you have a safe area to bike, I highly recommend this bike leash. We have used it for years with our high energy shepherd mixes.

https://biketowleash.com/

Mix it up with some sprinting and easy trotting. When my dogs were younger we would do 8 - 10 mile rides. Now we just do 1 - 3 miles with some good all out sprints.

You may also want to find out if there are any dog clubs near you that may have fenced areas or group play areas or if there are any dog parks near you.

We have a Canine Country Club that offers private and group play sessions in an indoor fenced area and private and group swims in an indoor and an outdoor pool. They also have doggy daycare with 2 hours of play time during the day.

https://cccresorts.com/play/

And we have a free dog park that is often empty or may just have one or two dogs.

Until you have your yard secured you may want to consider options near you.

Round pen or lounge work with a horse is all about building a connection with your horse and testing their attitude before getting on their back. It isn't about wearing them out or playing.

Completely different than training or working with a dog.

I didn't know what a "flirt pole" was, but I see it now. Here are some more of my ideas/thoughts:

1. Walk your dog, doesn't necessarily have to be a run.

2. Hire someone (a kid) to walk your dog.

3. I cannot imagine a dog doing lunging like horses do. Their instincts and motivations are completely different.

4. Take dog training lessons. Obedience, nosework, agility, CGC, really anything to get the dog to go somewhere and do something, is great for them, and mentally taxing.

5. Bonus of number 4 is that you will learn a lot about how dogs are motivated, and how to keep the dog moving and engaged physicallly, once you know how the rewards will work.

My example for number 5 is that we had an unusual border collie a long time ago, who was not ball-motivated. She had zero desire to fetch. But we were caught up in Flyball at the time with our other dog, and I thought about "training" the non-fetch dog through what motivated her: treats. Of course the flyball people thought it was hopeless, but she learned to do flyball runs for the inevitable tiny bit of hot dog treat, and you would not have realized that she actually had zero interest in the tennis ball itself. So, you need training to understand exactly how to motivate the dog to do the activities you want. Get a good trainer to consult with you, is my advice here.

Another vote for a fence. A dog’s nose and ears pick up so much more than we do, it’s wonderful for them to be outside as much as possible.