Fully grown dog still looks like a puppy and always will
Ranger may look as cute as can be, but his appearance has a dark side…
Ranger, a four-year-old German Shepherd from the American state of Arizona, will spend his entire life looking like a puppy. It may look really cute, but it’s the result of breeding that his owner is trying to raise awareness about. You’ll read more about it on the next page!
Ranger
Ranger is a German Shepherd from the American state of Arizona. If you were to see him walking by, you wouldn’t think he was more than a year old. Ranger is tiny and looks like a puppy. The crazy thing is… Ranger is already four years old.
At a certain point, Ranger stopped growing. Ever since then, it seems as though the German Shepherd has received the gift of eternal youth, but nothing is further from the truth. His cute appearance isn’t all positive, unfortunately. Ranger’s owners want to warn future dog owners of the dangers involved in certain breeding practices.
Read more now on the next page!
Just as big
Curious to know just how big Ranger is? His owners happily answer the question. “He’s about as big as the cat”, one of them says. “Yeah, maybe a bit bigger”, says the other. The two are apparently good friends.
Imagine adopting a German Shepherd and getting a surprise like this. German Shepherds are known for being pretty big dogs. They’re often used as guard dogs or K-9 police dogs. But can you imagine? A police officer walking around with Ranger next to him?
Lots of people like the idea of it, a dog that looks like a puppy forever…
Sought-after
According to Ranger’s owners, several people see him and then say things like “Oh, I wish I had a dog like that!”. They believe that this is because these people don’t know what all is involved with a dog with conditions such as Ranger’s.
All they see is a cute little face, not the downsides of his condition. One of these being the fact that his owners know he won’t survive much longer. This is something they’re confronted with daily, unlike dog owners with furry friends that don’t have any conditions.
On the next page you’ll find out what Ranger’s condition is.
The condition
When Ranger stopped growing, his owners thought it was due to a certain parasite he had when they adopted him. They took him to the vet, who quickly ruled this out as a possibility. This wouldn’t explain his growth issues.
It appeared that Ranger had a condition called ‘pituitary dwarfism’. This is a condition that is seen most often in German Shepherds like Ranger. Now that they knew what the issue was, Ranger’s owners could take it into account. But besides receiving the diagnosis, the dwarfism had other effects on the German Shepherd.
Life expectancy
The vet let Ranger’s owners know that their four-legged friend probably wouldn’t grow very old. Unfortunately, dogs with pituitary dwarfism often die quite young. To the vet’s surprise, Ranger is now four years old! This is much older than he had initially predicted.
The fact that Ranger is still alive doesn’t mean that everything is running smoothly. He now suffers from thyroid problems due to his dwarfism. The poor dog now receives medication for this. He will probably need to take this medicine for the rest of his life.
The vet also says that Ranger’s dwarfism is no coincidence…
Breeding
Dwarfism in German Shepherds is due mainly to certain breeding practices. A puppy can acquire the condition if both parents carry the gene. Most often, this occurs when inbreeding is involved. Breeders can avoid this, but a small percentage of them don’t care about the animals’ well-being.
This condition is caused by commercial breeders, breeders that don’t care about the animals’ well-being, but are purely motivated by the money they earn through selling puppies. They aren’t bothered by the chance of dogs encountering genetic issues through their breeding practices.
The condition thankfully only has an effect on his physical health…
Mentally
Mentally, Ranger is an adult German Shepherd. Even with his small stature, the dog is just as smart, playful, loyal, sweet, and happy as fellow dogs of the same age and breed. Thankfully, Ranger ended up in a home with a family that loves him deeply. His small stature contributes to his owners not being the only ones that love him.
His owners often post pictures and videos of the small dog on Instagram, where he now has around 140,000 followers. The comments people leave make it clear: the internet loves Ranger. On the next page you’ll see some of these pictures and the comments they received.
Curious? Take a look on the next page!
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Christmas
In this picture, Ranger is wishing everyone a very merry Christmas! These Christmas wishes are greeted with a warm welcome, as you can see in the comments: “Ranger, YOU’RE THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT!”. Someone else responded saying “I hope you live a long and happy life.”
“I hope Santa brought you lots of gifts because you’re such a handsome boy!”, another wrote. You can tell by looking at Ranger that his owners love him lots and are extremely proud of him.
However bad Ranger’s situation may be, his owners still manage to joke about his condition. Curious? Read on now!
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On the couch
This picture’s caption reads: “being a dwarf is hard work… so sometimes you just have to relax on the couch!”. Good for you, Ranger! His Instagram followers agree. “Just relax and be pampered”, one of his followers wrote.
But other comments are a bit more serious. A dog with dwarfism isn’t something you see every day! So, some of his followers have questions. “Just out of interest How much does he weigh?”, one follower asks. For this reason, his owners often organize Q&A sessions.
They also do this to raise awareness to the issues that can be caused by inbreeding.
Warning
However cute their dog may be, he is the result of a dangerous method of breeding. Besides dwarfism, dogs can acquire several other serious conditions when money is more important to the breeders than the well-being of the animal.
“We do not encourage breeding animals in order to get dwarfs”, Ranger’s owners say. While dogs that stay looking like puppies forever are cute to look at, it brings lots of health issues with it.
Source: Independent, The Dodo | Images: Instagram, YouTube videostills
Source: https://www.tips-and-tricks.co/various/fully-grown-dog-still-looks-like-a-puppy-and-always-will/