Tiffany Pisani, winner of Britain’s Next Top Model 2010, helped save an abandoned puppy when she visited family in Malta last month.

The avid animal lover, who often visits animal shelters when in Malta, recently starred in a microchipping and neutering poster campaign for Dogs Trust Malta.

She found a poorly, abandoned puppy in Mrieħel and was devastated to learn it had one day to find a new home.

She said: “My boyfriend and I were driving when we saw a scrawny Staffordshire Bull Terrier-cross puppy lying on the road. It looked very weak and it was clear the poor dog had been abandoned. I took it to a rehoming charity but was told the shelter was full and that they could only keep it for one night.”

Tiffany called Dogs Trust Malta and spent the next few hours frantically calling around friends and family to see if anyone could offer this dog a home.

Luckily someone could, so this story has a happy ending.

“I’m a massive dog lover and couldn’t bear the thought of this little guy being put to sleep for want of a home,” she added.

On her return to the UK, Tiffany met staff and canine residents at Dogs Trust West London to get her ‘fix’ of dogs and find out more about the charity’s rehoming activity in the UK.

Richard Moore, Dogs Trust West London Rehoming Centre manager, said he loved having Tiffany join the trust on a tour of the centre and chatting to her about the stray dog situation in Malta compared to the UK.

Dogs Trust runs rehoming centres in the UK. “We never put a healthy dog to sleep. Our kennels are full of lovely dogs of all ages looking for homes,” Mr Moore went on.

Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and cares for 16,000 abandoned and unwanted dogs a year through its network of 17 rehoming centres.

The charity set up a neutering, microchipping and education campaign in Malta in 2009 to help reduce the number of street dogs.

For more information or advice about having your dog neutered and microchipped, visit www.dogstrustmalta.com or call 7771 1100 or 7979 0333.