Heh. I've used a very similar "live like a dog" philosophy myself to try to emulate the best traits of canine personality. Dogs are loyal and eager to please, they don't dwell on the past, they don't hold grudges, they aren't retributive.
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.
Love it, and maybe you have heard of Diogenes and the Cynics (literally 'dog-like').
"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]
Even the 'best traits of canine personality'... aren't even true in a general sense. That's more of a human conception of the end result of natural tendencies, training, anthropomorphism, and how dogs are portrayed in the media.
> 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."
> 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.
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... ).
I can't read French, but the abstract states "dogs remember who and what happened but no study evidenced yet that they remember the precise time it was done."
That is a much lesser claim than "they're more or less completely unaware of it (the past)"
There’s plenty of more studies out there, many paywalled. I just offered you one so you’d get the idea and have a place to start if you were actually interested.
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”.
I don’t know what to tell you, man. I don’t keep a list of books and papers I’ve read about every topic and sharing my direct experience isn’t possible. I gave you a starting point to sate your own curiosity. I don’t have any interest in defending a claim I know to be true on an off-handed comment on a low stakes topic. I’m not here to convince you or educate you.
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.