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Lady Gaga's dog walker has spoken out for the first time from hospital about his "very close call with death".

Ryan Fischer was shot in the chest last week by a dognapper with a semi-automatic handgun in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

The man and an accomplice took two of Lady Gaga's bulldogs, Koji and Gustav.

A third bulldog, Miss Asia, was unharmed. Mr Fischer said she was his "guardian angel".

He credited seeing her next to him with giving him the determination to survive.

"My panicked screams calmed as I looked at her, even though it registered that the blood pooling around her tiny body was my own," he wrote in an Instagram post on Monday.

"I cradled Asia as best I could, thanked her for all the incredible adventures we'd been on together, apologised that I couldn't defend her brothers, and then resolved that I would still try to save them… and myself," Mr Fischer wrote.

He is expected to make a full recovery.

Lady Gaga's pooches were recovered Friday night, after a woman brought the dogs - unharmed - to a Los Angeles police station. Authorities said the woman found the dogs and was uninvolved in the incident. Police have yet to identify any suspects.

It is not known if Lady Gaga - who is currently shooting a film in Rome, Italy - will hand the woman the $500,000 (£359,300) reward she initially offered for the safe return of the two dogs.

Mr Fischer tagged the pop star in his Instagram post, writing: "your support as a friend, despite your own traumatic loss from your kids, was unwavering".

"Your babies are back and the family is whole… we did it!"

He wrote that, although his life had "taken a very sudden and unexpected turn", he was glad the dogs were safe and hoped the criminals would be brought to justice.