What do you guys think about this? I like it, as Carlin is too soft for even a neutral NRM (or I'm just not good at giving them).

The gist of the CI is that it is an upbeat, rather than neutral, NRM based on the fact that we as humans suck at being neutral. Here is an example from the blog post below:

"You’re working on multiplication tables with your child. The first three are perfect, so you move quickly through your flashcards, cheerfully saying “Yes!” for each correct response. You’re on a roll; your child is engaged by the flow and you’re having fun together. Then you get to the fourth problem and your child is wrong.

You don’t suck the life out of your terrific session by saying “no” unemotionally. Instead, you probably say something like, “close; try again!”. There is no disapproval because you know that it is your job to keep your young learner engaged. Maybe you lean forward a bit to show that you’re not upset or maybe you give a bit of help by repeating the question slowly to give your learner a chance to slow down and give it more thought."

http://denisefenzi.com/2014/05/05/behavior-chains-part-11/

I heard about this on the Bad Dog Agility podcast, which is top-notch, and even featured a 2 part interview with ME on tugging.

http://baddogagility.com/episode-57-interview-with-denise-fenzi-part-2/

Tomato, tomato...

I think most experienced trainers use a version of both (what she calls CI and NRM). What she calls NRM is one of my intermediate bridges. I don't interrupt a repetition when I give an IB. If the dog stops on the way to the dumbbell to sniff, I give my IB, and the dog is expected to resume the behavior and complete the retrieve. I cheerfully repeat the command and use my positive IB ("Good") to coach the dog through completion, if nec. I then reengage the dog, do a little drive building or motivating, and repeat the attempt. IMHO, finishing the broken rep reaffirms to the dog that it must do what is asked, and repeating the exercise reinforces the complete, correct behavior.

I reengage my dog before after every miss. However, different from her, a NRM is not an interruption for me. I prefer to finish even the bad reps and use them constructively, rather than stop the training and (however cheerfully) go get my dog.