My phone is giving me trouble, is it just a distance position change?
Nope. It's a directed send dog to cone thing, followed by a sit within 3 feet of cone without touching it thing, followed by a distance position change thing.
Clear as mud?
I might teach the cone as I did my article indications - it's a cue for the dog to sit. Teach the dog a release to the cone separately. Start with the cone in you hands, show the dog, cue sit. (new cue, old cue, behavior, reward in that order) Gradually put the cone closer and closer to the floor, then start moving it away from you until the dog will execute a sit as soon as they are at the cone.
Weirdness. That is so not how I taught articles.
The main issue with the cone as target is getting the dog touching the cone with more than a tail. You lose points if they do, and in a trial setting you could easily get more wild behavior with the cone.
True, but I can command the sit before he crashes into it.
I would use the pvc box that they already know for doing positions. Simple enough. And put the box to the right of the cone so the dog is next to the cone on the right (ideally) as the target space. Then fade out the box a bar at a time till it's just the front bar and then fade it gradually so the dog lines themselves up to be next to the cone, with their front feet next to the cone (sort of like the dog in the picture is but instead of hind feet, front feet). That way for the pickup there's no issues with a barrier for the handler or dog.
I have no idea what the pvc box is.
This is kinda what I'm thinking:
I don't want him to think "go to it and sit" automatically when he sees a cone since he has to heel around them in rally. So I'm teaching it sort of as a targeted directed place/go out kind of thing (and somehow I've never taught him "place"...Don't. Ask. Why.), eventually using a variety of objects that he can go to - a book, a purse, a cone, a lamp, a box.
The other issue I see is the placement of the cone in trial and the pull of the jump and confusion between this exercise and directed jumping. But I suppose adding the jump to the picture as part of proofing and teaching him to know the difference should be possible?