The hunt for three-year-old Siberian Husky Neo ended in heartbreak on Sunday when owner Mark Alexander received the sad news that his beloved pooch had been found dead.

Neo is thought to have died instantly when he was struck by a Glasgow to Carlisle train on the Barrhead — Kilmarnock line.

Now Mark and his family have paid tribute to “the sweetest dog in the world” and thanked the hundreds of people who helped share the news of his disappearance on social media.

Some big-hearted residents even went as far as to begin contacting dog homes and kennels in an effort to trace the recognisable pooch and the original missing post by Mark was shared more than 500 times.

Mark told The News: “He was just three and was just such a down to earth dog.

“Whenever I would take him out a walk, there would be children and people who would come up to see him and obviously the parents were a bit cautious because he was basically a wolf.

“But then Neo would just start licking their face and sit with them, he loved the attention and everyone always said how lovely he was.” Neo went missing on Wednesday after getting out of the garden of the family home.

He was regularly compared to wild wolves or Dire Wolves from hit TV programme Game of Thrones.

A rare all white Siberian Husky, Mark says Neo was well known in the area where he lives, close to Tesco in Barrhead.

He added: “He loved to go out and about and was always very vocal.

“He would have been four in may and he loved just throwing toys about and lying up on the table out the back door.

“He just loved people and was one of the nicest dogs you could ever meet.” Neo lived with Mark, 20, Mark’s brother Jay, 13, dad Stephen, 45, and mum Gail, 41.

Mark admitted that he was blown away by the level of support shown to him and his family by friends, family and complete strangers in the four days that Neo was missing.

He said: “I can’t thank everyone who has helped us enough.

“I’ve been thanking lots of people on Facebook and on different missing dog pages for the help.

“It’s just saddening that the ending couldn’t have been better.” “The reason we found him was because the message got that far out that someone messaged me where he was and what had happened.

“It has given me closure in one of the hardest parts of my life.

“A dog is not just a pet, a dog becomes a part of the family, like a brother or sister.

“I don’t even have half the people who shared the photo of Neo on Facebook, but I just want to say thank you so much.

“I literally can’t even put into words how amazing you have all been and I just want to say thank you.” Mark’s family have already said their goodbyes to Neo after his remains were recovered.