Socialite Paris Hilton was turned away from a pet store in Los Angeles at the weekend after employees refused to let her buy a puppy - because she reportedly just wanted the pooch to accompany her in a photoshoot.

The hotel heiress was on her way to a photoshoot when she stopped at The Puppy Store on Melrose Avenue to buy a Yorkie.

But she was banned from doing so by one of the store workers because they saw it as "an impulse buy".

An insider tells the New York Post's gossip column Page Six, "(She) wanted a puppy in the picture with her so it would look cuter."

And when she was knocked back, puppy-loving Hilton allegedly went "ballistic".

The source adds, "She started screaming, 'I love my puppies! I want my baby!'"