He is 14 months old. He does know the commands. the same think can be seen if my wife gives him commands, though she rarely does.

He's performing them, but slowly, hesitantly, from your description. Does it not make more sense to ascribe it to unsureness in the verbal command (since overshadowing is a known phenomenon that is absolutely predictable) rather than to assume a dog has made a decision NOT to "challenge" you when you use hand signals, but to always challenge you when you use verbal commands???? That makes no sense to me.

yes it does make sense to ascribe it to unsurness or perhaps confusion as to what I want. best thing to do is to start back to basics with voice commands only. I think it is something that can be worked out. I went wrong somewhere in the training and perhaps the next time I train a dog the sitz and platz I need to reassess the way I am teaching it and what body movements I am making

Sch3Fh2 and Richard are correct. If you use body language and verbal both to teach a command the dog will only cue in on the body language. That is why it is vital to wean out the body language as soon as the command is learned.

well I am finally making progress where he now only moves a few inches before dropping and there is now little hesitation. The TD and i both tried using a furr saver without any luck. Though she does not like using pinch collars on dogs she said there is no choice with mine since he totally ignores corrections with a furr saver. I though perhaps I was not using it correctly but even someone well experienced it has no effect. So she ended up putting a pinch collar on him. The first time she gave him a hard correction he acted like a bronco, yelped then lunged at her and tried to bite her. She imediately corrected him again, same reation. She then had me work with him. When i corrected him he yelp slightly but complied. I have not had to correct him again. I do rotate from pinch collar to furr saver. He is doing very well in heeling, recalls, and too well on long downs. A new problem has been introduces and that is when placed on a long down, all hell could break loose and he would still stay. He knows his release command, and even when given treats he is unsure about being released. However if I recall him there is no hesitation. I think in time it will work out because he is getting better each day and more sure of my commands. I have not used hand signals for several weeks now. I do also wonder if the training director did not give him too hard a correction for I would have never given such a hard correction. BTW he is 15 months old now