From your OP you seem to get the idea, but it doesn’t work for you (yet?)
IME as a converted cat person who actively disliked dogs, it takes some time to adjust to the negatives of a dog and to appreciate their virtues.
I think inevitably when an animal is part of your life you will come to love it, and I think for a cat person a very young dog is a harder sell. I think as your pup matures and you are around it more you will come to like it better.
What I like is that dogs think of us as part of their family. My dog has a special bark he only uses when our whole family gets together. He doesn’t make that noise at other times.
I like that, when we’re out walking and he gets a twig or something in his paws, he stops and holds it up in the air because he knows I’ll fix it. When I first got him, his fur was overgrown and he’d sit down and and chew at it or just hobble along. Now he trusts me to fix it.
I like that when I got him, he’d been abused and carried his tail down between his legs. Now his little tail sticks up all the time, like an exclamation point.
I like how gentle he is, and kind with children. I like that he wishes the cats would like him back. He’s always wanted a cat but he’s never met one who liked him.
I like how he lays back on my lap and gazes up at face adorably and how, in the mornings he’ll stand up and look in my face to see if I’m awake, giving a little lick on my hand just for a test.
Dogs are individuals. All those things above are only true of this dog.
I’ve had a sheltie who would have walked on fire for me and another sheltie who was a nervous basket case and a blythe, bonny Lhasa Apso, and another Lhasa mix who spent all her time plotting revenge. I had a beagle mix who pooped on the dining room table, a terrier mix who ran away in a blizzard, a bearded collie sort who liked to ride the bus and another terrier pup, rescued by my dad, who would hide in the bushes and then jump out to nip joggers and pedestrians.
It’s true that any well-treated lab puppy will be bursting with enthusiasm for his people, but the way he expresses it is all his own. It’s not instinct that makes my little dog hold his tail up - it’s the confidence and happiness he feels at know he’s with his family.
Mostly, what you’re missing is experience and the habit of watching your dog’s behavior as closely as you would a toddler.
I know, right? I’d love to be my dogs. They have two moods: (1) I want a treat, and (2) joyously happy. What a gig!
Here is the thing, just because dogs are “programmed” to love you it doesn’t change the fact that they do. IMHO this is the same as a parent loving a child, it’s “programmed” but just as real. When you come home and the dog is all waggy, it is really happy to see you. Dogs pay attention to your eyes, face and moods, some dogs will die for you and most will protect you from harm. Hopefully given some time your heart will soften a bit.
Cat people sheesh 
Capt
There’s a lot of reasons I love my dog.
I just love watching him do things. There’s something about the way dogs will watch, study, and react to things that I find fascinating.
Every time he crawls in my lap when I’m having a bad day, I remember how much he’s improved my life.
Every time he learns a new trick, responds to training, or figures out a new way to communicate, I just want to scoop him up.
The way he expresses such a wide range of emotions so clearly, the way his moods reflect on his behavior, and the way he takes so much joy in being close to and earning approval from me…just so much love.
Well, for me, the purpose of dog ownership is not to prove myself worthy of the dog’s love. I’m not looking for some kind of confirmation that I’m special, or the satisfaction that comes from obtaining something hard to get.
I like dogs because it’s so easy to make them happy. If I’ve had a shitty day at work, I can come home, and my dog will be happy to see me. If I take him for a walk, or play fetch with him, or give him a treat, he will be happier still. Even if I am just sitting on the couch, he will come up to me and be happy just being able to sit next to me while I absent-mindedly pet his neck. It makes me happy to make my dog happy.
It’s not about some kind of desire to prove myself worthy, or to obtain something “scarce” that the dog will not bestow on anyone else. It doesn’t make any difference to me that my dog is also happy to see other people. It’s just - here’s this creature, I’ve made it happy. That makes me feel good.
And of course, dogs are fun, which is the other half of the story. They are playful, and energetic, and they all have different personalities. Others in this thread have said it best, but I’ll indulge myself - they show their emotions, and they’re fun to watch. My dog loves to play hide-and-seek - he will bring a toy, and I will distract him while hiding the toy somewhere, or throw the toy down the hall and then hide somewhere myself. It is fun to watch him thinking about how to find it. If he can’t find the toy, he gets frustrated, starts snorting and grunting in frustration, and goes up to people trying to bully them into showing him where it is. When he finally finds it, he grabs it in his mouth and runs around the house showing it off to everybody (he pushes it into your leg until you acknowledge him, and then runs off to the next person).
Or, while walking him, he knows there are a few places on the regular walk where he can sometimes see groundhogs. He gets real serious, tunes out any other distractions, closes his mouth, sniffs the air, and scans the grass methodically. It’s hilarious.
As others have said, a lot of the fun of dog ownership is noticing the little things that make up your dog’s personality. This might be easier as your puppy gets older and matures a little. I can see how someone would consider hyperactive, frenetic puppy energy to be somewhat bland.
I love my dogs so much I feel really sorry for you. one of them is a Pom and he is very very much like a cat, in that he does NOT love everybody, in fact he may not even love me. he sure loves that I give him treats and know where he likes to be pet. bu the has NO sense that I am “the boss of him” in *any *way.
for a cat person, you probably have a the wrong breed. it’s a damn pity for you and the dog.
the whole - he doesn’t get credit for loving since he was bred to be - I don’t get it.
My sister has a pom, and that dog is a complete asshole. Still, I don’t mind him because he, like all dogs, likes to play and is happier than a pig in slop when fetching that little squeaky thing.
Damn it, this thread is making me sad that I don’t have a dog. I need a yard and more free time. Some day…
I guarantee that, even though your dog is pleased to see nearly everyone, he prefers your family. Dogs are pack animals, and your family is his pack. If you and a stranger both called him in exactly the same way (like that scene in Annie) he’d go to you.
They’re also just a good way to get more fun out of life. Walking a dog makes you notice things about your neighbourhood that you probably missed all the other times you went on that route sans dog. Go out in the snow, in an area where it snows rarely, and many dogs will go wow! New world! And rollick around in the snowdrifts, slide down hills on their bums, attempt to catch snowballs and be all confused when it goes wrong.
Dogs and toddlers are similar in many ways.
There are good dogs and bad, good cats and bad. The idea that someone can be a “cat person” and inherently dislike all dogs or be a “dog person” and inherently dislike all cats is silly. I have a cat who I love very, very much. She is a sweet and affectionate cat, comes when I call her, loves to cuddle. But I didn’t have to earn any of that from her. I would hate to have a cat that I felt like I had to "work " to get to like me. There are plenty of cats who are nice and friendly and cuddly. Similarly, there are plenty of dogs who barely even tolerate humans let alone “love” them.
My advice? Stop painting cats and dogs with broad brushes and realize that there is a huge spectrum of behavior for both of them.
You are thinking backwardly. A cat will define your relationship with it, very convenient for you, you just have to treat it the way it wants to be treated. With your dog, you have define your relationship with him. Figure out what you want from him and establish that with him. He will accommodate you in much the same way that you would accommodate a cat. Or, in other words, become the cat to the person-dog.
Dogs are (generally) much more interactive than cats, and more overtly enthusiastic and happy about life. Some people enjoy having a creature like that around, some are annoyed by it. If you think the puppy stage is bad, wait until it’s an adolescent with a much larger body and no better behavior! Although the degree of derp when they’re tripping over their own paws is pretty funny.
Don’t worry, he’ll probably grow on you. At least a bit. 
Not all dogs automatically love everyone they see. My best friend just had his dog of eighteen years put down on Saturday. The dog was fantastically devoted to him, but very standoffish to anyone else. Outside of her owner, I think I was one of the few (if not only) humans she genuinely liked, and it took a lot of effort on my behalf to win her over.
On the other side of the coin, my parent’s cat is some sort of feline sexual predator. If there is a lap anywhere in the house, she will be sitting in it, and she will NOT take “No” for an answer. If you stop petting her before she’s ready to stop being petted, she will cut you. And she is *never *ready to stop being petted.
Point being, a black lab puppy (or any other dog) isn’t really a good stand in for dog-kind in general. Dogs are nearly as variable in personality as they are in appearance. Not warming up to this particular dog doesn’t mean there are no dogs that you could like.
I’m wondering now if I’m too narcissistic to like/appreciate a dog.
If the fact of the dog being happy to see you doesn’t make you happy unless it also snubs everybody else, then yes, probably so.
There’s no animal that’s more faithful, that’s more loyal, more loveable than the mutt.
I’m a dog person and I’ve been pretty good with dogs all my life though I’ve never actually had one until my wife and I got together. Our dog has personality: she’s a sweetheart and a bit of a clod and she’s getting older now and starting to show her age. But a cat? All they do is make me sneeze sometimes.
Well, that’s not it because I’m genuinely happy that he brings and receives joy to the rest of the family. It’s not narcissism either, not exactly. I’m just overthinking things.
Eventually you may see that his capacity for love may be bred into him, but it is still genuine.
Well I dunno, that seems like it’s it. You said in your OP
[QUOTE=You]
I can’t get past the thought that all his love and enthusiasm he shows for me is just bred into him–he has no choice but to act that way unless I get really abusive to him for a really long time (which is not in my nature, so no worries). Cats are different, to me. They can take you or leave you, and if they decide to take you they are really loyal and responsive. They like some people in the house and not others. The dog? He thinks everyone is just fantastic–he’s a simpering whore who, again, doesn’t really have a choice about loving people.
[/QUOTE]
It seems like you can’t like an agreeable animal. As if you’d like the dog more if it hated everyone, and the rare exception is you. Being agreeable is a good thing. Really. I say this, and I’m a mean old lady. 
If you can’t get over that hurdle, please note that the other folks here are right when they say it depends on the dog and the breed. Some dogs are pickier than others about who they like. Poms are snotty so much so that I like to refer to them as barking cats. I actually do this just to annoy my sister who has a pom, but still. The point is not all dogs just uncritically love everyone who comes around. Even particularly lovey dogs of lovey breeds still don’t love everyone. But if they did, so? I guess I’m just not one to view being loving and happy as a bad thing.
Not really. Cats think they are equal with you. That’s why cat haters hate them.