Chloe was a shining star in her puppy classes and knew all of the commands - sit, down, come, back, shake, leave it, etc. That was what I really focused on with her, on top of some behavior modification training for her issues.
With Abrams, I find myself much more concerned about his overall manners than I do his smarts. Crate, car rides, handability, house training, house rules, food etiquette, polite greetings, leash manners, response to new/scary stimuli, etc., etc. So far so good, although he is the biggest cry baby when it comes to any form of restraint and just cries and cries and cries. I'll be making a thread on that later, I think.
He knows "sit" and "down", and only if you do the hand motions and give him a second to think.
But, the very first thing we taught him was name recognition. If you say his name in the tone of voice we say it, he immediately looks to you and focuses on you.