Do they really "want to please us"?

[GSD07]

My dog is very tuned to me but I do not describe this as a desire to please me. I think we figured out how to coexist in perfect balance by learning how to avoid each others rough sides that disturb that peaceful balance of the pack, so to speak. He does things he would rather skip, like going to a vet, simply because he trusts that I will do no harm and protect him from harm. I think, it's a matter of trust and not a desire to please. If he is tasked with something, like running a track and finding articles, he does it for the satisfaction of accomplishing that task, and not because he wants to please me. I can see how proud he is with himself when he succeeds, and my praise serves only as a confirmation, not as the end goal.

On a side note, I dislike people pleasers in the human world. I think this trait is destructive to the personality of a people pleaser, and corrupts the recipients.

[Mrs.K]

Originally Posted by GSD07

My dog is very tuned to me but I do not describe this as a desire to please me. I think we figured out how to coexist in perfect balance by learning how to avoid each others rough sides that disturb that peaceful balance of the pack, so to speak. He does things he would rather skip, like going to a vet, simply because he trusts that I will do no harm and protect him from harm. I think, it's a matter of trust and not a desire to please. If he is tasked with something, like running a track and finding articles, he does it for the satisfaction of accomplishing that task, and not because he wants to please me. I can see how proud he is with himself when he succeeds, and my praise serves only as a confirmation, not as the end goal.

On a side note, I dislike people pleasers in the human world. I think this trait is destructive to the personality of a people pleaser, and corrupts the recipients.

I don't like the people pleaser that always try to please every single person they come across. That is just not a good thing because most of the time, those people don't think for themselves, they have others think for them an try to please them to a point of no return. I don't like that either.

[Nikitta]

You train with threats Sezler? GO DOWN OR YOU GET YOUR DOGGIE TOYS PUT AWAY!!!( /tease I know it was a typo. :P )

[PaddyD]

We all first do what makes us feel secure, so do dogs. But dogs stay at that level while we don't. Dogs do what makes them feel safe and secure. If pleasing us rewards that feeling then that is what they do. We feed into it by rewarding them for doing what we want. So they learn quickly. A belly rub is a good example. They lie down and expose themselves and get rewarded with a belly rub. Ultimately, they are training us to rub their bellies while we think they are being submissive. Next, they train us to throw sticks and even more interesting and expensive items. If they are lucky, they will train us to take them for walks or to give them something interesting to bite or tug on.

[chelle]

Sure, dogs want to please us because they get a great benefit by doing so. Whether it be a treat, a tummy rub, a GOOD BOY!, a chewie,,, whatever they get, it is positive so therefore, duh! please the human.

But in a way, I think this might be oversimplified.

Last night the bf and I got into a big, ugly fight. I ended up withdrawing to the other room to bawl my little eyes out - not something I do often at all. Well, basically never. Bailey just did NOT know what to think of this, he'd never seen it.

I was sitting there, with my legs pulled up and he came up to me, gave me a little lick/kiss and put his head down on my ankles. And just sat there while I cried. THIS post actually came to mind at that moment. Was he wanting or expecting something from me then? No. He was working on something else then. There was no reward.

You can't downplay the relationship, yet, of course, a dog will do what he/she thinks she is expected to do to earn "something."

[WaterBound]

Maybe it is related to their drive, but I do have dogs that, "want to please me". My female wants attention and belly rubs. My males are EAGER to do things. They totally want to please me as opposed to just getting a food reward.

[vicky2200]

I don't think that ALL dogs want to please their "owners"*. However, I do believe that Ditto wants to please me (or doesn't want to displease me?)
I think it depends on the relationship between the "owner" and the dog, the breed of the dog, the dogs past, and the dogs personality. Daisy is an Alaskan Husky. As she gets older, she wants to please me/doesn't want to displease me more often than she used to. As a puppy and at 1 and 2 years of age she didn't care if I was happy as long as she was happy. Dakota likes to please me but since he is older now sometimes it is more important to him that he pleases himself... On average, I think the GSD is a breed that wants to please. There are plenty of other breeds that are usually like this as well.

[Mrs.K]

Sometimes I wonder if they are not coercing us into pleasing them instead of them pleasing us.

Most of us can't say NO when it comes to our dogs.
If we see they are bored, we do something with them and think they want to please us while they are simply happy go lucky because we actually do something with them.

I think that we please each other. They show us affection because we give them what they want.

[Syaoransbear]

I think it's a very, very rare dog that actually finds it rewarding to just please its human or pack. If anything it's a combination of not wanting to piss us off, and the rewards we give them can manifest into wanting to please us because when we are pleased, we give them things or treat them better.

[Catu]

I'm sorry for those that still don't know those dogs, I met mine only past year. He is the sixth dog of my own and I've trained dozens of other dogs and I used to think they didn't exist too.

Originally Posted by Samba

I have a bitch who pretty much lives to please and is ridiculously responsive to me. But, she doesn't behave this way because she would rather do something else but then chooses to please me instead. No, she does it because her breeding and genetics created a dog whose own self serving nature is rewarded by pack approval. What she does for me she is actually doing for herself by fulfilling her inner drive.

Yet I find this true. Dogs want to please us just as much as possible, because trully altruism doesn't exist, not in the animal world, not in the human world. How many christian people act "right" because it is what "god wants"?