You take your finger and go around in circles with your dogs ears. Very gently. When you are finished then you kiss your pup right in the middle of the forehead.
I don't actually think that you need to fake like you care about people. That is disingenuous. You can set time limits on how long you are willing to socialize. Let people know that you can come to their event but you need to leave by a certain time and stick to it. Leave when you promised yourself that you would, be that kind of friend to you. It's okay to be a "mysterious" person and limit your social life.
If you want to come off as a nice person you just need to be that person. That doesn't mean that you should be a social person just be the person that you want to be for the allotted time. You tell yourself that you are only going to go for an hour and you really only need to be "that person" for an hour, you can do this. It takes a lot of practice, actually it's all practice, but as you settle into who you really are it just becomes who you are.
I make them ask me for everything. They don't like to do that so I get to watch a lot of bad decisions. I also turn every question about any our projects right to them so they get to show everyone how much they know. They have been pulled off of a few jobs. Their time is limited. Lol.
You take your finger and go around in circles with your dogs ears. Very gently. When you are finished then you kiss your pup right in the middle of the forehead.