I don’t doubt that there are lessons to learn from the SPE, but it’s also worth noting that it’s been widely criticized for various biases and influences and lack of controls, and that no other researchers have ever been able to replicate its findings. Some might call it debunked, others perhaps not, but I think it’s fair to say it isn’t generally accepted as gospel.
You must not have the soft close feature. I hate standing around for 20 seconds waiting for the soft close seat to drop so I can pee (learned the hard way that if you force it, it wears out in a couple years). So that would probably have killed this little ritual as soon as she had to go twice before you came along to put the seat down for her. It would annoy you sometimes too I bet, unless you stand up to shit.
Still, even though you don’t want to spoil the magic, maybe there are other ways to show affection, because (in order of importance):
Admittedly, none of this is what you asked. But it’s weird how many people try to make toilet seats a fairness thing. If the lid is kept down, everyone has to take it from closed to open and back to closed again. Isn’t that fair?