A threadle describes a situation on an agility course where the dog has to come towards the handler to approach an obstacle from the non-obvious side.

For example, a curved tunnel where the dog needs to come towards the handler to take the tunnel entry that is not directly in front of his line from the previous obstacle.

There are many ways to handle this situation in a way your dog will naturally understand, without the need to train a verbal cue. The handling technique you choose will depend on the context of the course. However, the most common handling techniques we use in this situation are the False Turn and the Japanese. If you would like to teach this skill to your dog as a verbal cue or teach your dog to come to the inside of a jump with a thigh tap for example then that skill is taught in our Foundation for Agility program and is called "In and away". The first 3 lessons below are about teaching the In and away skill.

The most important thing about handling a threadle situation is to give your dog the information on time. You will need to use your handling elements to cue collection and a turn for your dog at least one stride before he takes off for the jump prior to the threadle. The image below shows approximately where your dog will need information from you about the turn from jump #2 to jump #3 and again from jump #4 to tunnel #5. The more obstacle-focused your dog is, the earlier that cue will need to be given. 

Check out the lessons below for more examples of how to handle a threadle type situation.