James Middleton's dog helped him through clinical depression.
James Middleton remembers his beloved dog Ella (C) James Middleton/Instagram
The 35-year-old entrepreneur - who is the younger brother of Catherine, Princess of Wales - lost his beloved dog Ella last month after they had spent 15 years together and has now opened up about how the pooch had a "power" which helped him overcome his mental health issues.
He said: "It is true that everybody's dog is the best dog. Ella was there - over the last 15 years - at huge moments of my life and it is a really challenging thing to think about the next phase of my life without her.
"I was 20 when I got her so I was discovering myself as an adult so we grew up together, and we discovered things. She looked out for me and I looked out for her.
"It was one of those sorts of moments that I realised that when I suffered from clinical depression, Ella came to each and every one of my therapy sessions and she I started to recognise the power that she had in helping me verbalise some of the thoughts I was having along with just being consistent in my life at that time when a lot of my friends and family wanted to help but it was difficult for me to let them help.
"Ella would come with a shoe in her mouth and it would be 'Right, you're coming for a walk with me!'"
James went on to add that Ella was the one constant in his life and would be able to stop him from having "challenging thoughts" by distracting him with a certain look and the wag of her tail.
Speaking on UK TV show 'This Morning', he added: "There would just be this look that she would have and the tip of her tail would wag a little bit. She just had to come and nestle herself or put her head on my knee and would stop me from having any challenging thoughts I was having and that would distract me.
"Amongst many other things, she was that one thing that was always there. She'd look me in the eyes and tell me that everything was going to be okay.
"You don't always need a response when you say things but when you have a thought about something and say it out loud, it can be a very different experience. "
Just weeks ago, James his Instagram followers that his canine companion had passed away following a "very short illness" in his arms and is now buried alongside his first dog, Tilly, who died in 2017.
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