Most people can’t get enough of cute, fluffy and adorable animals. These furry friends of ours go from cute, cuddly and clumsy pups to full-grown adults only in a matter of months. The story of the fluff ball that we are bringing to you today is that of the 4-year-old German Shepherd Ranger, who still looks like a puppy. This doggo has grown only a third of the standard size of its breed due to dwarfism.
Ranger developed pituitary dwarfism due to inbreeding, and it was this that made this majestic animal look like a puppy. Veterinarian Lynn Janes states in an interview, “Dwarfism is an inherited genetic disorder in which both parents are carriers of the defective gene. Lack of growth hormone slows the development of a dog from about 2 months of age. Affected puppies are always smaller, and they also do not have the same hair as in adults. The fur of dwarf dogs remains soft and fluffy.”
Shelby Mayo, the owner of Ranger, takes very good care of him. This is because most dogs that are known to have dwarfism die even before they reach the age of 3 years. Taking this into consideration, Ranger is the picture of health due to Shelby’s care.
She also went on to make an Instagram page for Ranger so that people will know all about the issues of inbreeding on dogs. Currently, Shelby has over 139,000 subscribers to her account. What outrages Shelby the most is that she is approached with requests to breed dwarf German Shepherd dogs.
Although Shelby is very fond of Ranger and loves him very much, she does her best to prevent inbreed dogs with dwarfism. This is because the dwarfism shortens the life of animals dramatically.
