Though he was lamentably absent from the movie Must Love Dogs, British actor Tom Hardy must legitimately love dogs. Perhaps wearing muzzle-like facial appliances in The Dark Knight Rises and Mad Max: Fury Road gave him a special understanding of the canine mindset. Not only does Hardy famously dote upon his own dog, Woody, but he recently paid a visit to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to appear on the ITV reality series Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs. Several especially adorable minutes of this footage made their way to Tumblr recently, appearing on #Fabulous Tom Hardy, which bills itself as “a blog dedicated to fabulous Tom Hardy & loved ones! Proud member of THAAC.” That’s Tom Hardy Admirers Across Continents, for the uninitiated.
In the video, Hardy tells O’Grady that he’s come to Battersea for “therapy, really, for me,” then proceeds to spend some quality playtime with some of the lost and abandoned dogs at the home. First up is a slobbery, 12-month-old American bulldog named Titch, whose diminutive-sounding name is amusingly inaccurate. Tom and Titch get along wonderfully, though the former won’t be adopting the latter any time soon, out of deference to Woody. “He looks like something out of Oliver Twist,” Hardy observes. Those hoping for references to Jude The Obscure or Tess of The D’Urbervilles are bound to be disappointed, but the actor does make a reference to the dog’s “knackers ” at one point. After that, Tom Hardy spends some quality time with Sidney, a pooch who, according to O’Grady, “gets very stressed in kennels.” And who wouldn’t?
[via Laughterkey]