Along with the devastating announcement, Hardy also shared a touching tribute to Woody and the amazing impact the dog has had on his life, starting at the beginning of their time together.
“I first saw Woodstock running across a turnpike we were turning onto late one dark night in Peachtree Georgia Atlanta. Whilst we were shooting Lawless. He was a stray. 11 weeks old. ‘Oh No,’ we thought. ‘Quickly, Go get that dog.’ Not even sure it was a dog,” Hardy starts the moving post.
He goes on to recount how he rescued Woody, who had “floppy ears” that even stood out in the dark, from running into freeway traffic.
“It was a very small bundle literally sagging from its neck fur with two big brown eyes staring straight into mine. Terrified and utterly quiet. When I got back to the car and sat in my seat he lay on my shoulder and fell asleep. And snored clearly he’d been through a lot,” Hardy writes.
After scooping up Woody from his life on the streets, Hardy took him to a pet store to get him cleaned up and to buy the needy pup “lots of things.” From that moment, Woody and Hardy’s lives were changed.
“Never forget that night. It was wonderful. One minute he was almost dead next terrified. Then picked up by strangers then after He had a power nap in the car, the next he’s walking with his bandy leg John Wayne strut,” the actor says.
Woody showed his new dad all the joys of being a dog owner.
“He was an Angel. And he was my best friend. We went through so much together,” Hardy writes, recounting several other times he saved the canine’s life.
The actor goes on to share his current emotional state, in light of losing his best friend, “We at home are devastated by his loss. I am ultimately grateful for his loyal companionship and love and it is of some great comfort that he is no longer suffering. Above all, I am completely gutted. The world for me was a better place with him in it and by my side. To the bestest friend ever. To me and to a family who loved him beyond words and whom he loved without doubt more than I have ever known. Woody was the bestest of journey companions we ever could dream of having. Our souls intertwined forever.”
Hardy closed his heart-wrenching remembrance of Woody with a final note to his favorite furry companion.
“Thank you Woody for choosing to find us. We will love you and be with you and you with us forever. Never ever, ever forgotten. Your Boy tom xxx. I love you beyond words,” he writes. “To the moon and back again and again to infinity and beyond.”
This story originally appeared on PEOPLE.com.