I think my dog Max sadly no longer with me desired to please. I say this because two days before I discovered his lump I had taken him for his walk which he usually was eager to do except this day he seemed to look at me as if to say I don't want too carry on, but I coaxed him to continue because we had been busy over the weekend as our Grandson had been born and Max had not been walked as much as usual and he did carry on even though now I realise he was not really well enough to carry on for that I will always feel guilty.
Ollie will please to a point but mainly for reward and if he really does not want to do something he won't. So personality may be a factor same as with us humans.

Now you have me thinking.

Ist I would say mine have a desire to please.

Now this may not make sense....I'll try hard to explain what and why I feel this.

Reah has also (seemed to me) have a desire to please, so she can stay close to me, but then I have always felt with her that she somehow knows what I have done to help her......so we have a natural bond.

Skye's desire to please is to gain the pat on the head and to be told ''good girl'' or ''clever girl'' but with Pat it appears more ''I love you Dad''........hope that makes sense.

Bruce defo has a desire to please and I think he actually gets pleasure from it....the more jobs he does, the more jobs HE finds to do....especially if he and I are alone in the garden or out walking.

As for them ''thinking punishment, I'm not sure mine would really know what that was as they have never been punished....so to speak, I mean they have never been smacked, it is unusal for me to raise my voice, etc., I always train ''calm'' and with praise not treats.... maybe thats the punishment...no treats

OK I've babbled enough

its called agape love...look it up,the say dogs do not show love...but .........any thing that appears to be love might be there way of getting what they need..good one and scientificly ,a debate most dont comment on it because its hard to prove......hummmmm good one.....

ps ...i belive they do want to impress, is it for me ,or the treatment they get when the is a job well done.....

I would say Skye (Deerhound X Old English Sheepdog) and Breagh (Pointer X Lab) know what makes me cross and go out of their way to NOT be in trouble.

That is clearly not the desire to please.

Fingal (Springer Spaniel) is a different thing all together.

He will do everything to please me. He knows what pleases me and will climb mountains to do it. That said - I think he does it not so much to please me but because pleasing me is what pleases him most.

I do believe some dogs just want to please, perhaps they are rewarded for that by a tickle/tone of voice, even the smell we give off whenhappy, but I think some dogs do have an innate desire to please. Cosmo has it, Mo has it,our lasp pup 'big pup' had it.They whave alevel of interaction that is totally different to those dogs who don't have it. Once you have a dog that displays it, it is hard, I thinkto have one that doesn't...

Max sounds like he was a wonderful boy

Well Steph, it was partly your dogs that I had in mind when considering the arguments. As I say, I think Hoki has the desire to please, but I can't prove categorically that she's just not after a treat as I have trained her using treats. But I know that you don't train using treats, nor do you punish....yet all of yours love doing things for you

Yes, I am coming to the conclusion that there are definitely dogs that have a desire to please their owner...because it makes them feel happy. But personally I think that's fine and I would still call that a desire to please.

I definitely agree

What is interesting is that JD says that she thinks people just want to think that their dogs have a desire to please....but just about all of us who have had more than one dog are saying that some of our dogs have it and some don't....so I don't think it's that we are looking at it through rose tinted specs.

Having said that, like you say Ailsa, I do think there is something very special about those dogs that do have it.

I'll throw in a few discussion points.

What about dogs who change their behaviour when their owner is ill? I know Fudge changes and settles more easily and is less demanding if I am ill for a few days.

assistance dogs who do it naturally such as the dogs we have seen on t.v who warn their owners about oncoming sugar lows etc. I don't mean the trained ones.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Very interesting thoughts.

Funny how Fudge behaves better when you are ill - my lot seem to mess me around a bit more when I am not 100%

I have no idea whether assistance dogs (not trained) have the innate desire to please, but it is certainly blooming amazing what they do

Another thought - could it be that dogs with a more submissive nature are the ones who try to please, whereas the more dominant, independent ones are happier pleasing themselves? I have no answers to these questions, just thinking out loud really.

I think you're definitely onto something there;

But I'm also wondering now whether breed has got anything to do with it....a lot of the dogs I know that I think have this 'desire to please' are gundogs and border collies (not to say that every gun dog or border collie I know has it)

Perhaps it also linked with the working relationship over the years as well?