I personally prefer to be good-tempered and not grumpy, and I am rarely in a bad mood. I call this dog philosophy.
It probably means that I won't have all the success and greatness and stuff that others have, but overall, I am much more content seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses.
My dog seems to agree.
That said, you have to be careful not to take it too seriously. Dogs are terrible philanthropists, they suck at planning, they aren't rational, they hate to share, etc.
"There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them."[0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes#Diogenes_as_dogged_or...
> Dogs are loyal and eager to please...
I foster, train, and board dogs. Trust me when I say this idea that dogs are 'loyal and eager to please' is very specific to certain breeds (e.g. Goldens). Most breeds only become 'loyal and eager to please' if their owner is clearly in charge. I generally foster huskies. They've all been either from a puppy mill or have been feral (so in either case they have no real human interaction before I get them) and they don't really have any interest in what I want at all until they've been with me and trained for awhile.
> they don't dwell on the past...
Dogs don't not dwell on the past, either. They're more or less completely unaware of it. However they experienced an event doesn't become a memory that they later recall. However they interpreted those events at the time had its influence on their future behavior and they can never go back and re-examine that event. They do have a sense of time, but it's not like ours. It's based on smell. "That girl dog I like was here, but the scent has faded, so she was here, but she's not now."
What is the evidence for this?
If you search for "animals" and "episodic memory"[0] (the type of memory you think of as a 'memory') you'll find a lot of studies claiming no animals other than humans have episodic memory. I'm not certain that's entirely true (and a lot of the studies will have caveats). If you search for "dogs" and "episodic memory" you'll find some disagreement as well; not arguing that dogs have human-like memory, but more that whether an animal has "episodic memory" isn't binary (e.g., https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221... ).
Also interesting is this study on short term memory in animals: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03766...
[0] - https://www.livescience.com/43713-memory.html
Edit: Fixed links.
That is a much lesser claim than "they're more or less completely unaware of it (the past)"
My point is that dogs don’t have a “past” to dwell on the way we do. Where you or I have a specific memory of playing fetch that we can replay, analyze, and put into new contexts, dogs have a sort of database of facts: “Rules of fetch”, “ball = fun”, “this human plays fetch”. They are “things remembered” versus “memories”.
Dogs definitely live in the moment, who else would ask for a full body massage when they meet new/old friends.
If you're never kind, collaboration and group effort become hard. People don't want to join you. You will miss opportunities to strengthen your group. In the long run, your line will lose out.
If you're never "grumpy" or bad tempered or forceful, you'll just get obliterated eventually by some great force randomly sweeping the neighborhood. Do not think it never happens. Sometimes the best response is force.
And then there's everything else in between.
It's a range, and all components are there for a reason - they performed well in the evolutionary past, so they got included in the toolkit. Use it, and use it wisely.
The optimum is not a narrow point - it's a wide range of diverse responses. Width is crucial.
I will say I find less grumpy people easier to work with and I try to be pleasant to everyone I work with as a result; it's just the dog messaging I find confusing.