This is the heartwarming moment a passer-by rescued a newborn puppy drowning in a canal in Malaysia.

Residents heard the cries for help coming from the panicking mother dog in their village in Petaling Jaya City, Selangor on October 24.

A food vendor who lives nearby, Arief Fiego, 36, followed the sounds as they grew louder until they saw her perched on the edge of the concrete drainage channel, which had rainwater flowing through.

At first, the couple thought the white newborn puppy was dead as it was floating on the water and spinning around from the strong flow.

However, Arief noticed that the puppy was moving and desperately trying to cling to the rocks at the bottom of the canal to survive.

Arief said: "We were tending to our food stall nearby when we heard a crying dog that seemed to be in pain. We closed down our shop and went to the dog because we thought it was hurt."

The brave husband, who is a laid-off flight attendant who turned to selling street food during the pandemic, said he tried to reach for the puppy but the canal was too deep for his arms.

His wife then rushed home to get a dustpan so they could scoop up the little creature from the water. Luckily, the pooch was not injured but was shivering from the cold so they wrapped it in a towel before taking it home.

His little eyes were still almost closed and his fur was smooth, suggesting he was no more than a few days old.

The husband said they did not know how the puppy fell, but it may have wandered away from its mother and slipped into the ditch.

Arief said the distressed mother dog was standing nearby the whole time watching while her baby was pulled from the canal.

He said: "The mother is a stray dog, so we think she left the puppies to search for food. That's when the little puppy wandered away.

''The mother was calling for help. I think she wanted to get the attention of humans. If she hadn't cried, we would never have gone over and found the puppy.''

The couple adopted the mother dog and her other puppies, which they now hope to train as guard dogs at their nearby home.