And what do they do when he says that? It fascinates me how dogs are so able to understand that what I say might mean something totally different when OH/kids say it. I suppose it's one occasion when dogs not being able to generalise well, is quite useful!

I know for a fact that if I said "down" to them when they were sitting on the sofa, they'd lie down. But when anyone else says it, they get off.

Body language, perhaps?

Sit = say sit or hand signal is pointing to the floor with 1 finger
Down = say down or hand signal hand open and flat to the floor using downward motion
Stay = say stay or hold hand up flat and open palm pointing towards them
Wait = say wait or hold hand up in closed fist with index finger pointing upwards and thumb pointting out palm pointing towards them (imaging making the "looser" hand signal )
Heel = say heel or point to floor at the side of me
Get in your bed = say bed or do an upwards sweeping point using whole arm

I think that is about all I tend to have hand signals for - all were done purley by accident as I am a very handsy talker, so probably nothing like universal hand signals, but both my dogs understand them and I can signal them to do things without opening my mouth which is always useful if you have a sore throat or are in the back garden in the middle of the night for a toilet stop and you dont want to wake the neighbours

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Look puzzled but generally don't take a blind bit of notice anyway (he hasn't got much dog sense - bless).

HaHa thanks for all the help. Was getting partner to read through intro to levels and couldn't get his head round the fact that she says "park it" to her dog instead of "sit".
He's the main one I'm going to have to sit down with and thrash out some kind of list that we can agree on. Don't think I have to worry about my daughter yet, the only thing dog related she will say is "goggy" so if the poor pup gets something out of that I will be shocked!!!
Are there any of you with a GSD that had problems with any particular part of training? The one thing I'm most nervous about is the recalls. If I ever get that one down pat, I'll count it as a lifetime achievement!!

Sit - Name and voice command or Name and palm facing up, then tilting hand towards and up

Down - Name and voice command or Name and finger pointing to floor

Paw - Name and voice command or Name and closed fist just under her head

Stay/Wait - Name and voice command or Name and palm facing her

Stand - Name and voice command or Name and arm swing from pointing downwards to bent at elbow

Recall/Come - Name and voice command or Name and raise both arms in the air running backwards

Holly listens to both to be honest, but for certain commands, like sit and down, she's better with hands, recall it involves a lot of shouting and running away :P

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Haha yeah I suppose as long as the dog doesn't see anything more ridiculous then whatever i'll be doing, I should be safe!