Ronnie Stanley, the first offensive lineman selected in the draft, recently held his own kind of draft. The Ravens' tackle visited an animal shelter to adopt a dog.
The dog he picked, though, wasn't a dog that visitors often seek out. According to BARCS Animal Shelter, Stanely, his girlfriend, and Alex Lewis asked for a "no-so-adoptable" dog that had been there for a long time.
Here's how the Shelter described Stanley's visit in a Facebook post:
We have an incredible 'Happy Tail' to share! This weekend, Ravens Offensive Tackle #79 Ronnie Stanley visited BARCS in search of adding a pup to his family. He was accompanied to our shelter by his girlfriend, along with his team mate, Alexander Lewis (#72). When they checked into our front desk, they let us know just what they were looking for -- and for a superstar like Ronnie ... you'll never guess what requested. "We are looking for dog that's been here a long time and maybe not-so-adoptable." Our matchmakers were delighted. "Not-so-adoptable" can mean a lot of things here ... senior pets, physically imperfect, on-going medical and more.
Our BARCS staff showed Ronnie and his girlfriend a few pets that fit his (seriously awesome) criteria. Winter was the lucky dog that caught Ronnie's eye.
Meet Winter:
The shelter provided more background on Winter and the "unfortunate situations" she found herself in during the first six years of her life, before she met Stanley:
Beautiful Winter is a dog who has spent most of her six years of life falling into sad, unfortunate situations. She was found on a vacant property, on a hot day with no electricity, or open windows. She was dehydrated and extremely frightened. Winter has a long, hanging belly, mostly likely a result of over breeding -- something we see far too often at our shelter. Due to her age, her belly is not something that will ever tighten up. Female dogs with such characteristics are often passed by in our shelter -- but not by Ronnie!
Ronnie's thought on Winter's belly, as recalled by our volunteers: "Well, that's just what happens when you've had babies." He was much more interested in getting lots of face kisses from Winter and falling in love, rather than being worried about the appearance of her tummy. What a great guy!
...
We are so proud to have amazing guys like Ronnie to be role models to the kids in our city. Not only does his single act of kindness make adoption cool, but it makes giving love to an imperfectly perfect dog a 'manly' thing to do.
Have a happy, happy life Winter. <3
[Also, a special shout-out to Alexander Lewis (#72), who offered to help our staff members carry large bags of dog food, while his buddy Ronnie was taking our adopter class. Yeah!]
Earlier on Thursday, Bills head coach Rex Ryan said his team won the offseason. Well, Ryan is wrong. Stanley won.
In addition to taking home Winter, Stanley received a big boost on the field when the Ravens cut Eugene Monroe on Wednesday. As ESPN reported, Stanley has been filling Monroe's void at left tackle thus far.
