James Middleton On Why He Believes 'We Have a Lot To Learn From Dogs' (Exclusive)

The younger brother of Kate Middleton talks to PEOPLE ahead of the release of his memoir, "Meet Ella," out Sept. 24

James Middleton knows how a dog can bring happiness and support to an owner.

His new searingly honest memoir is a love letter to his late cocker spaniel Ella, who died last year, and also underlines how she was an emotional crutch for him in his darkest hours.

Middleton, 37, the younger brother of Princess Kate, has spoken out on how he has suffered from depression and how, when he saw Ella on one harrowing night in 2017, it helped turn him away from his suicidal thoughts.

He backs dogs as a therapy tool, telling PEOPLE that "An ambition [of mine] is to get dogs to be on a prescription from doctors, because I think there is an undeniable amount of things that dogs can do for us."

Middleton says they can get "us up in the morning and outside. It's incredible what it can do for us if you don't mentally want to do it, but you're doing it for something else."

Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life is out in the U.S. on Sept. 24. and Middleton told PEOPLE how he and his family now talk more openly about their mental health.

"We have a lot to learn from dogs, which is that they live every day as today. They're not thinking about yesterday. They’re not annoyed about yesterday or worrying about the future. They're living in the moment. If we all focus on that a little bit more then I think we will be happier.”

On a late summer afternoon at Bucklebury, it is clear Middleton knows his dogs well and has a wonderful talent and flair with them.

Related: James Middleton Reveals Accidental Way Kate Middleton and Prince William Met His Future Wife

Welcoming a visitor to a park close to where James and his sisters Kate, 42, and Pippa Matthews, 41, grew up in the English countryside of Bucklebury, Berkshire, these canine co-stars of his instagram bound out when he opens the back of his Land Rover Defender. Two golden retrievers, Mabel and Isla, and four working cocker spaniels, Inka, Luna, Zulu and Nala, leap and scoot excitedly around the visitor, their coats healthily glistening in the summer drizzle.

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They are boisterous but never irritating or aggressive. Moments after entering an office, Middleton pours them some fresh water and ushers them to settle down, which they obediently do in a haphazard bundle.

These are special dogs. All are descendants of his first two dogs, his family pet Tilly and, of course, Ella (who was mom to Kate and Prince William's first dog Lupo). In the book, Middleton recounts how not only did Ella inadvertently introduce him to Alizee Thevenet, who he would go on to marry after Ella wandered over to her in a bar in Chelsea, London, but he believes Ella sensed that she was pregnant with their son, Inigo. He turns one in October.

"Dogs have this fantastic sort of intuition," entrepreneur Middleton, who runs ethical dog food company James & Ella, tells PEOPLE. "They know things before we do. I'm sort of absolutely certain that she knew that my wife was pregnant. And that in times of timing, now is the time to slip off, so to speak.”

Read PEOPLE's exclusive excerpt of Middleton's Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life.

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Read the original article on People.