Strangely enough my Scottish grandmother said ‘basket’ to her various dogs who would then go there; and my French one said ‘panier’ so maybe it is generational, they would both be over 100 now, were they alive. Lie down or couché is for lying down wherever, basket or panier is for going away to their bed. I used them with my late, peerless Nanna, world’s best dog. Never said stop.
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i say couche an the dogs go to their beds. not sure how to write it but pronounced vat a chouche is another term french use for the bed. my mother in law uses that one alot and she in her 70’s
anyhow ive just done couche and bed to 9 dogs who all just came in from last pee times so im now off to couche myself.
Pronounced vat a chouche?
Va à ta couche? Va te coucher? The latter wouldn’t be surprising, the former would be archaic but chouche rather than couche is what is puzzling me. Regionalism perhaps, it isn’t what we would say in standard French. (or dialectally where I am from, south-east).
ahh sorry dyslexic typo lol. normally when you hear it said its rather bold and makes me want to sit down too. i prefer just bed or couche. i find it rather works. is say the va a ta couche is mire what they say as its like a scolding for the dog. not my cup of tea but heyho round here they say mamang instead of mammon also if you say thirsty here they think your saying cold for local dialect.
Around here… they say what sounds like "couchon " a bit like cochon with attitude 
never seen it written down so not sure of spelling… but it works on some dogs. … as does “doucement”…
Arrête… said firmly, in a deep voice, with terrifically rolled R’s, works on most dogs… (and has the Secretary in fits of giggles when I use it on humans in her presence… 
)
kids use arrete all the time. its pretty common now.
I hope they are careful if saying it to adults though…
mainly to each other and mainly my daughter saying it to my son.
A few years ago we had a new elderly neighbour who walked her elderly dog 4 or 5 times a day very slowly around our little lotissement. She was constantly calling to her dog and I thought she was calling it’s name. It sounded like “Vansi” which I thought was just an unusual French name for a dog. After a while I realised she was calling out “viens ici”, over and over. Dog just ignored her 
Our dog is french, and all his commands are in french to make it easy at dog school. However the local accent means that assis sounds more like arse-e which our UK visitors find hard to get their heads round. He is a skilled negotiator our pup and knows the difference between haricot, potiron and fromage…and often holds out for the best of all - jambon - which will usually stop him in his tracks from doing something wicked. But he never once has looked guilty…
I am a behaviourist. I abhor this whole “reward the wanted and ignore the unwanted behaviours”.
It matters not what word you use, more the tone of voice. It’s useless getting annoyed at any damage when you return home.
I do let my 15 dogs know when they are doing something I don’t want them to do. I growl at them, or issue a sharp “ah ah”.
Praise or reprimand must be issued at the time whatever the behaviour is happening.
The ‘guilty’ look is apprehension if not outright fear.
The problem I have with the “reward the wanted and ignore the unwanted behaviours” method of training is that it causes confusion. It’s simply unnatural. Within any canid pack, unwanted behaviour is immediately corrected by thos high up in pack heirachy. Much like if one pet dog has a treat, and the other pet dog in the household tries to take it, the one with the treat will issue a warning growl. If that doesn’t make the would be thief back off, it’s followed with a deeper growl and body language (ears flattened, lip lift, body tense) saying clearly "if you try to take what I have, I am prepared to fight for it. If the would be thief is lower in heirachy, it’ll back off. If it considers itself higher up, it will lead to a fight unless the treat owner leaves the treat.
Given that dogs don’t understand actual words, where you can tell a child “oh you good clever child for not hitting the child next door over the head with the brick in your hand”, and the child will understand that it must’t hit other children with bricks, you cannot come home and say to the dog “oh clever doggy for not shitting on the floor/chewing my new shoes.”
Your tone of voice tell it that you are happy, but it hasn’t a clue what about. The training method simply leads to total cofusion. The dog has no idea what behaviour is wanted or unwanted. So, if it growls at the postman, or bites the neighbour, it doesn’t help if you ignore the behaviour and then prais when it stops growling or biting.
I have long thought that most dogs turn into good pets in spite of their owners and not because of them, and the people who consider any other training as being cruel or terrible, speak as owners who have only ever kept nice easy family pets.
Sorry for the long diatribe but animal behaviour is my ‘thing’.
People forget (or don’t realise) that most of the time it’s a basic communucation issue. Dogs communicate 95% body language and 5% vocal. Humans communicate 95% vocal and 5% body language…
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how did they learn not to jump up if you never tell them “no”?
i agree for the most part but without getting into a debate over it all. I care for and look out for others dogs in large numbers and as a dog listener I understand dog behaviour and language far more that I understand human behaviour an I use to do that for a living too.
Yes i communicate in growls too but I also while a dog does not understand words talk to mt dogs. they understand the feelings behind words and what we as humans do not see. to stop dogs often the look is enough and the body language. if needed i resort to a simple io or stop or no.
Not too keen or referring to dogs or people as it though.
Distraction…maybe it’s breed specific but my breed is easily distracted with a ball or a tug-toy…when they are puppies lots of quiet time so they dont’ get over tired…teaching “sit” early on with both a word and a hand signal…I know hierarchy exists within a “pack” probably a more natural hierarchy within a related pack where one look from an elder is enough… rather than a thrown together pack of unrelated dogs…I’ve never thought that dogs see us any sort of pack leader…I don’t think they are that easy fooled…they can see we only have two legs for a start…I’ve never liked the domination theory and I think that has been pretty much debunked…I’ve discouraged jumping up by just putting my arm in the way and gently guiding the pup back down without saying anything but equally discouraged visitors from encouraging my dogs to jump up…That’s about all I can say…I’ve never told them off…I can read their body language much as they can read mine…distraction…tone of voice…probably even the “energetic field” we all transmit…I talk to my dogs all the time about anything and everything…(they actually keep me sane with their non-judgemental way of listening…!) They don’t walk out of the back door before me but I have never taught them this…they both stand on the step…wait for me to put my wellies on…and then I have to say “bib bib” so I can get out…lol…x 
personally i discourage dogs jumping by ignoring them, putting your hand put and pushing down makes it some form of game.
As for mixing dogs of unrelated is debunked by the fact im the alpha here I don’t have to run around raising my voice they just know i’m the boss and i mix dogs all the time putting new dogs in the mix all the time. my own 2 dogs who live here know im the boss but also when trouble brews my main dog will go and bark in someones ear to say oi less of that.
Each to their own in their way of doing things though. I have to be alpha and show that though being in the field and operating how I do. Plu side dogs are always happy to see me when they come back to visit time after time so my way works for me.
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Much admiration Harry…I’ve never left my dogs with anyone other than family and I could count those times on one hand…I love your photos of happy chilled out dogs…x