Part of my problem may be that I've never taught/used stay commands, as I find them ambiguous and haven't figured out how to clearly explain them to a dog. When others leave their dog and say "stay," I repeat the position command (sit, down, stand).
Right now, I'm handicapped by Em's feeding schedule and am not attending classes, just working on this stuff myself. Figured I won't try for someone to actually go over her until she can hold a very solid stand.
Once I get back to a drop-in class schedule, we'll start working with your suggestions, thank you!