PHOENIX — Ranger the German Shepherd made hundreds of thousands of people happy. The "forever puppy," who had dwarfism, was an Arizona celebrity with a large social media following.
Sadly, Ranger passed away in April, his owners announced.
"From the beginning, we were told that life expectancy is unknown but estimated to be 3-5 years, and we got nearly 7 with our boy," Ranger's owners posted on Instagram. "We were also told that things can cascade quickly if things were to go wrong, but we were not ready to lose him. "
Ranger was 2 years old and just 15 pounds when he became an internet celebrity. His miniature size came as a surprise to his owners.
“He still acts like a German Shepherd,” Darcy Mayo told 12News when we met Ranger in 2019.
“He was actually the last one of the litter,” Shelby Mayo said. “He was a lot smaller than all of his other litter mates at that point.”
The Mayo family soon found out Ranger had dwarfism. His first year was riddled with health issues, and his owners weren’t sure if he would make it.
“There was a lot of like scares and what have you, and then just figuring out his dwarfism on top of all those other things,” Darcy said.
As many dog owners do, they started documenting Ranger’s life and progress on Instagram, only in Ranger’s case, his page exploded.
“People originally just loved him for his head tilt. And then he just got popular because of his dwarfism,” Darcy said.
Ranger's owner said he was healthy and happy up until the moment he passed.
"His cause of death is unknown but we as a family believe that it was related to his dwarfism and that he had reached the end of his lifespan with his condition," the Instagram post said. "Despite all, we are grateful that he was not in pain or suffering."
