Just got done with my morning training session... We're getting there - "down" is 9 times out of 10 on the 1st try... I do still use hand signals for "down", "sit" and "watch me"... With "watch me" and "sit", I can safely interchange the verbal and the hand and she gets it every time. With down, I've been stressing the verbal more since her hand signal association is still pretty strong. I'm just happy that we got to the point of me not having to be on my knees or at her eye level for her to truly pay attention.
And, Storm, you are right - I also had to find something that Rhea wanted reeeeeally bad. We found that it's best to switch between treats (cubed cooked chicken - she doesn't care for store-bought ones), toys and praise (she gets verbal and physical affection - petting - praise every time before the toy or treat too)... I'm still trying to figure out what drives her most. Sometimes it's food, sometimes it's play, sometimes it's extra minute of petting... Should I know by now what it is that drives her most? She's a little over 15 weeks, we've had her since she was 9 weeks old...