Mosely Compton, an eight and a half year old red and white Brittany Spaniel, has been a student at Tender Loving Pets Doggie Day Care since 2001. He is an avid ball player and loves to take long walks with his owners on the White River Canal. We got him to slow down so we could ask him a few questions…

Q: What’s it like being a hunting dog, particularly a bird dog?
A: I’m a lover, not a hunter, so I‘m glad to be part of a family that doesn’t hunt for sport. I do love to watch and chase squirrels just for fun! Birds? What are those?

Q: You just found out last year that you are not the Compton’s biological child. What was that like for you?
A: Well, they adopted me when I was 8 weeks old so of course I have no memory of the event. I guess I should have figured it out as my brother, Howard Kat, is a cat and not a dog. How the heck would that work? After the initial shock though and knowing how much my parents love me, it didn’t really make any difference. My mom said I had the cutest curl on my back that my biological brothers and sisters didn’t have. That is what set me apart from the pack and how she picked me!

Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned at Doggie Daycare.
A: I still don’t know how to read very well, a major personal disappointment to me, but I do have a good grasp of the English language beyond, “BAD DOG! Drop it!” The Doggie Daycare folks have been instrumental in channeling my doggie energies into a positive experience. After a long day of playing catch and ball with the other dogs all day I just want to take a nice long nap.

Q: You also have your Advance Obedience Training Certificate. Why the advanced? Why not just the intermediate?
A: As you know, when I go for something, I like to go all out! My parents hired a dog trainer when I was about 6 months old because I was a “problem child” as they say. Don, the dog trainer, was a former police officer who trained police dogs. You don’t mess with that!

I have to admit, the old “use it or loose it” applies with this as with anything else. In my hey day, I could be called out of a sit/stay from about 2 blocks and go into a down position on the way back to my trainer or parents. I can still do it, but it takes a little more coaching.

Q: What other sports do you enjoy?
A: I also enjoy golf. My mom likes to practice her chip shots in the backyard using foam golf balls. She chips ‘em and I catch ‘em. I am really quite good and can catch a chip shot mid-air!

Q: Wow! That sounds like you should be on TV with that trick!
A: My mom would be too nervous. I have however been in several publications such as the Indianapolis Star and the Indianapolis Business Journal. I was also featured in the Pets in America exhibit at the Indiana State Museum a couple of years ago.

Q: You had ACL surgery last year on your right hind leg. How has that affected your sporting abilities?
A: I was pretty nervous about it, just like Peyton Manning I suppose. You worry that you won’t get your mojo back. The surgery was an overnight at a hospital in Anderson, Indiana. The next couple of days were disturbing and depressing. We have a lot of stairs at our house so my mom and dad bought a ramp for the car and also put ramps up outside of our house. She forgot to teach me how to use the ramps BEFORE the surgery though which is a lesson learned for her! It took me about 6 weeks before I really felt like myself again. Now, you would never know that I had the surgery! Just like Peyton!

Q: You always have such great costumes at Halloween and other times of the year. What costume was your favorite?
A: That’s a hard question as there have been so many. Don’t tell my mom (will she read this interview?), but I don’t particularly care to dress up like some froo-froo dogs. Let’s see, I have been "GI Mosely Joe", "Mosely the Cowboy Kid", "Mohammed Mosely Ali", "Mosely Mouse", and "Mosely the Killer Bee" just to name a couple of the costumes. I would have to say though that the "Chippendog Male Stripper" costume was my favorite. I am basically a minimalist at heart.

Q: What about your Peyton Manning football jersey? Did you like that costume.
A: What about it? That’s not a costume…that’s a uniform!