“Tails from Heaven:” Westlake Author Explains How Our Pets Never Really Leave Us

Losing a dog can be a devastatingly emotional experience for people young and old.

Ashley Pease-Mitchell is a Westlake resident and seventh grade teacher in Avon Lake whose family faced the grief that comes with saying goodbye to a beloved pet over a year ago.

Ashley responded to her loss by writing a book, “Tails from Heaven.”

Her work “helps to sort through those feelings and begins with the moment you lose your beloved friend,” says Amazon books, where her novel is available in both hardcover and paperback.

The story? “A friendly dog already in heaven walks readers through what it’s like for your pup to cross the rainbow bridge. Think of it as a welcome tour for your pup. As much as you long for your friend to be with you, it’s unconditional love to allow them to go on to a better place.

“The hardest thing, but also the bravest and best thing, we can do for those we love is to let them go. This is a book about hope for a better future for your friend and a reminder that they will always be with you.”

An English and Language Arts teacher, Ashley explained her rationale for writing the book.

“It’s love to let these dogs go to a better place where they aren’t in pain anymore.” she says. “I just needed to believe he was in a better place and what that was like for him to bring myself and my family peace.

“That’s where ‘Tails from Heaven’ came from. It’s a book to give hope to people who lose their dogs and are clinging on to the idea that their dog HAS to be in a better place. I’m hoping by putting these words poetically in a book, it will be more widely accepted.”

Ashley and her family lost their dog, a Golden Retriever named Cash, at the worst of times – in the middle of the pandemic.

“Losing Cash a few weeks shy of turning 13, during the pandemic while working remotely with a toddler at home and a baby on the way was my breaking point,” explains Ashley. “When we lost Cash, I felt like I lost one thing that was constant in my life and at that point (considering everything we’ve been through) nothing made sense anymore.”

Even though the signs were all there that Cash’s time was coming to an end, the inevitable was impossible to face. “We would take him for walks in my toddler’s wagon so he could get out and enjoy the spring weather that started to arrive,” says Ashley. “I always hoped he would go on his own. So making the decision to have him go in peace with a company that euthanized him at home was the hardest decision I ever made.”

As a teacher, she knew how much pets mean to all kids. She spent the last year of Cash’s life teaching two grade levels while working remotely during the pandemic. She observed during this time that students found comfort learning at home with their pets when they couldn’t be in the physical classroom with their peers.

“I can’t tell you how many kids would stay after class on the zoom call to show me their pets and, oftentimes, their pets would be right next to them in their home work space,” she says. “I started checking in with some of the pets to make sure they were paying attention to the lesson! Everyone got a kick out of a dog whose ears perked up after hearing the teacher on the computer call his name. It also helped to engage the students.”

Knowing that our time with any pet is finite, Ashley decided to embark on her project.

“While the book was being published, I met a man probably in his late 60s on the trails in Bay Village around the nature center,” says Ashley. “I was walking my little black dog and he approached me and said that he had just lost his Golden. This was his first walk without him. His wife forced him to get out of the house for his own mental health.

“I told him that I had also lost a Golden and both of us were crying at the end of that conversation. It just showed me that it doesn’t matter how old or young you are – losing a dog packs a powerful punch that we all wish we never have to experience.

“All I wanted to do at that moment was give him this book. Because I knew it would bring him some comfort.

“That’s the goal, the purpose, of ‘Tails from Heaven.” And Cash’s legacy: to help others cope. I think of my students and their dogs, I think of the older generation like the man in the woods, I think of my own toddler who kept asking where Cash was, I think of my own life and the 13 years that Cash was a constant for me in turbulent years.”

Ashley Pease-Mitchell is a Westlake native and her family has a rich history in the community. Her children represent the fifth generation of the well-known Pease family (think, “Dover Center Barn!)”.

While the book is available at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble (where it is already climbing the Children’s Pet Books best seller list), Ashley is not looking for personal gain. “I’m working with Golden Retrievers in need to make sure profits from book sales go towards their rescue organization,” she says. “I don’t have the stomach to profit off of Cash’s death, or any dog’s death. That money needs to go back to the dogs who need it because if we all help the dogs, we all get something much greater in return.”

To help more people (and dogs) it is extremely helpful that people purchase, rate, and review the book on Amazon.