This NFL player went to an animal shelter and asked for a ‘not so adoptable’ dog

Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Ronnie Stanley and his girlfriend, Emily, took an important step in their relationship: getting a dog together. But it wasn’t just any dog. Stanley walked into Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) and asked to adopt a dog that had been in the shelter a long time—a pup that was “not so adoptable.”

“To be able to help a dog in need, I always had planned on doing,” Stanley said on Animal Planet’s “Stars to the Rescue.” “Some of my teammates, I told them I was looking to adopt a dog and BARCS was the place they suggested.”

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The dog they chose was named Winter. At just 6 years old, she had been the victim of many unfortunate circumstances, including overbreeding, which left her with a long and hanging belly. BARCS posted on their Facebook page that she was “found on a vacant property, on a hot day with no electricity, or open windows. She was dehydrated and extremely frightened.”

Stanley and his girlfriend took the retriever-terrier mix home and renamed her Lola. They promptly enrolled her in training classes at downtown Baltimore Dog to help in the transition.

“I could not leave her at home. She has pretty bad separation anxiety,” Stanley told the Baltimore Sun. “She’s an angel when I’m around, or even someone’s around, but when you leave, she claws up the door. … She’s a loving animal. She just wants to be loved.”

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BARCS accepts more than 11,000 unwanted, abused and stray animals each year, including dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, wildlife and exotic animals. It is Maryland’s largest open-admission animal shelter and pet adoption center. They say they accept any animal no matter the circumstance. Stanley’s Lola was just one of the many animals at BARCS with an unfortunate past that was turned into a bright and loving future, thanks to the pet parents who chose to give them a forever home.

Check out this other amazing story of rescued pups finding new homes: