Elena & Indie, Miniature Schnauzer, 7 months old

“1. regarding the target, does it have to be of some specific size? also, in the begining, i reward standing (like i have already done with other objects) or just passing from the target? i guess that i should begin the exercise indoors right?”

In the very beginning size doesn’t matter all that much, but later on (when I start adding speed and I need the dog to run through) I want it to be at least 60cm long and the width of the DW or wider. In the beginning I just sit on the ground somwhere next to the target and when I see the dog offers the behaviour, I move further and further away. In the next phase I get up and I reward with throws in one and another direction as the dog walks/runs through the target. Just like shown on the video. Except the very first shaping step is missing.

“2. i have found some videos in YouTube regarding teaching backward and sideways walking, bowing, sit pretty, stand and lifting different paws. most of them use luring (always click before reward). do you have any other suggestions?”
You can do all those tricks in many different ways. I will do a little bit of luring sometimes, because I find it useful for some obedience stuff and conditioning, but when they are so young I use mostly shaping for anything I can think off, because it gives much better body awareness and independence.
So teaching the dog how to back up on cue is more or less capturing – waiting for a weight shift or a tiny step with the hind legs and rewarding that patiently until the dog begins to offer the behaviour. Going backwards comes quite easily for super young pups. When they get older it depends. Some offer it quickly, some not so much. If she is stuck and you can’t get any movement, you can try this cool idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-k9580_Qc
Or in the last case scenario just walk towards her (but you have to make sure she is standing not sitting to begin with).
For walking lateral you can start like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmvZfclsklI&list=UUIYTr45URNWQe1kM6cPgYRQ&index=105 First teach her to step up with front feet and than reward any action with the hind legs. You can develop it into a full circle like shown on the video or you can take a long and narrow object, have her step on with front and than if she has pretty much no choice other than walking lateral if she wants to offer something more.
You can quickly get paws from the hand game we were playing. Just hold the treat in your hand and reward every contact with the paws. You can start with the hand on the ground and than gradually higher and higher.

Cik&cap – looking good. Start increasing the distance and developing the “multi-wrap” (you will need to be close for those, so you can mix it up, some repetitions of just 180 from distance and some with more than 180, but being close. Eventually you can start far, let her propose the first turn and while she is at it, get closer to help her with the second one. Once you feel she is pretty consistent, add cues.

Yes, good! For now you can start adding cues when she is already turning. In the next phase you can have her standing next to you and send her off with a cue. Gradually you can make things more difficult and ask for one specific direction regardless of your position. (turning towards you, turning away from you). And than you gradually add speed – more dynamic rewards, longer distance between her and the cone. But you need a non slippery surface for that.
Yes see – bowing is one of the trick I mostly teach using luring :). Luring the nose down with one hand and gently tickling the belly with the other to avoid a full lie down. Just capturing it when she is trying to get a treat from under the couch or something might not work well enough because the bow is very much a reaction to a situation and not a controlled action, but you can try and it never hurts if you do that too along with some other method. It will help her generalise better. It could also be done with absolute free shaping – just having her stand and than rewarding her for looking down and in direction of her front feet, rewarding by throwing in between her feet, slowly asking for weight shifts,… It is interesting but challenging shaping. 🙂

When they get stuck with just one side, I usually sit closer and always start by giving them a treat on one of my sides – in your case it would be your right side. So when she is approaching the cone from your right, left is the obvious direction unless she tries to cross in front of the cone, but she can’t do that, because you are sitting there. Than reward every little step, don’t wait for a full turn. Like for example at 2.49 – I would give her the next treat as soon as she moved after taking the treat. Than give the reward in the direction of the left turn again,… So lower the criteria and set her up for success. 🙂 Try to work on just the left ones the next session, to balance her a little and than start mixing again.
And be careful with your clicks. Don’t just reward walking around the cone. Focus on what her head and neck are doing. Click when she is the tightest, when her head and neck are really wrapping the cone. It doesn’t matter that she does full circles at this point. The important part is that she learns to really focus on the object and go as tight as possible.