The tied to a lamp post thing came from a reputable media source. She did offer a big reward, and the dogs were returned by somebody unconnected to the theft, so I'm pretty sure I'm right that they dumped them when they realized they'd taken dogs belonging to a celebrity.

And yeah, French bulldogs are valuable and expensive, partly because they're so expensive to breed. (Honestly, they're not a breed we should be perpetuating in its current form).