If you bought a pooch in lockdown, beware: dognapping is on the increase and it’s sometimes accompanied by violence as even gilded celebrities such as Lady Gaga have discovered

What happened to Lady Gaga’s canine friend?

Make that friends, plural. A week ago her French bulldogs Koji and Gustav were taken at gunpoint while being walked in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, was in Rome at the time making a film for Ridley Scott alongside Al Pacino and Adam Driver. The person holding the leads, the nappy sacks and the dog treats back at home was one Ryan Fischer, a friend of Gaga’s who looks after the pop singer’s four legged assets when she isn’t around. Footage of the incident shows two men in a white car pulling up alongside Fischer, Koji and Gustav, leaping out and then attempting to steal the dogs. In the resulting struggle, Fischer was shot in the chest and is recovering in hospital.

What did Gaga do?

She was horrified and immediately took to social media to post a reward of $500,000 (£358,000) – for the return of the dogs. “My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness,” she posted to her Twitter account. She even set up a dedicated email address for information regarding the crime, though notably it reference Koji and Gustav rather than Ryan Fischer.

A salutary lesson, then?

Indeed. Don’t move to Hollywood – or, if you’re filming in Rome with Al Pacino, take your pets with you. He won’t mind. However dognapping is on the rise in the UK too. With dogs having become crazily popular during lockdown, and the average cost of a puppy doubling as a result to around £1900, thieves have cottoned on and there has been a spate of violent thefts across the country. The pet industry has responded in kind and now offers such items as lockable steel collars, and high-strength leads that are resistant even to bolt cutters and can be fixed to the dog owner’s body. High-tech GPS trackers are also coming into play and campaigners are calling for pet theft to be legislated for specifically, and for penal tariffs to be stiffened considerably.

And Lady Gaga’s four-legged friends?

That story at least has a happy ending. On Saturday evening a woman walked into a Los Angeles police station reportedly accompanied by two French bulldogs bearing a marked resemblance to – guess who? – Koji and Gustav. Representatives of the singer were dispatched to the station and the dogs’ identities confirmed. After that things become a little murky, though the Los Angeles Police Department appears satisfied that the mystery woman was not involved in the heist. Whether a ransom was handed over is not yet clear, but Koji and Gustav are now back at home and would be chasing their tails in delight if tails they had to chase.