for us it turned out that baka just wasn't understanding what "down" meant. we couldn't sign up for obedience II class while we were waiting to have the hip surgery, so i picked up a book on clicker training & we started our own little training sessions at home. i was amazed when we got to working on down - you could literally see when baka finally understood what down meant. she looked at me and you could tell she was thinking, "oh! that's what you've been yammering on & on about. that's easy! why didn't you explain it better the first time?"
of course this was just my one experience & its only something else to consider. maybe watch maddie during the day, when you're not training & she's doing what she wants to do. does she seem uncomfortable laying down or getting up then?
laura & baka chapel hill, nc