I've rarely heard "in the doghouse" to mean literally sleeping in the doghouse, or even sleeping on the couch. IME, it just means "in trouble", i.e., she was up

I've rarely heard "in the doghouse" to mean literally sleeping in the doghouse, or even sleeping on the couch. IME, it just means "in trouble", i.e., she was upset with him for a while. I agree that "making" a man sleep on the couch is not acceptable in the sorts of cases that folklore usually reports for it, but (and maybe I just know more reasonable couples?) I don't often see it happen in real life.