b"In the true sense of a budding love story, the moment Logan said. And she just let me tag along to watch what she did. Shefound out Ashley was single, he made sure they bumped into each taught me pretty much everything from the ground up. Thatother at a mutual friends party, and they ended up talking for hands-onexperiencehelpedAshleyobtainherCPDT-KAdoghours. Naturally, the main topic of conversation was sports, specif- training certification. She continues this work to not only advanceicallythePhiladelphiaPhillies.AshleyisfromDelawareand her knowledge in animal behavior, but to lend her hands-on expe-Logan is from New Jersey, and they both grew up Phillies fans. rience to various animal organizations. When Logan brought up the Phillies, I thought, okay he knows Holding each other accountable is important to both Ashleysomething other than just football, Ashley recalled.and Logan, and it came up often during our interview. They cred-While still in college, the young couple adopted their first dog it their parents commitment to raising their families, as well astogether. She was just a terrible puppy, said Logan. Nala was a their time at Rutgers.At Rutgers, we learned the deeper mean-rebellious dog. She still is. Thats where their commitment to ani- ing of giving back, said Ashley, And why we give back to ourmal advocacy began. The one thing I love about animals, said community rather than just doing it because youre supposed to. Logan, is they dont have a voice. Every cause is great, but this On Tuesdays, most NFL players only day off during a stan-causewhere they cant speak for dard game week, Ryan would visitthemselves about what they need Ashley at the shelter for lunch. It I feel like I can be somebody was there that Ryan was first intro-who speaks for them.duced to many of the animal wel-Butbeforetheybecamethe fareissuesthatplaguesheltersanimaladvocatestheyaretoday, across the country. The work shebefore Logan became a three-time was doing was tough and grimy,SuperBowlwinner,beforethe andshewasntmakingmuchkids, the fame and fortune, Logan money, said Logan. I knew sheand Ashley were a couple of broke was doing it for the love of it. Icollegekids.Wewerebroke also started becoming more con-together, said Logan. We had no cernedabout,andemotionallyvisions of a home at the time. We involvedwith,thedogsthatwere just concerned with pooling werent getting adopted.together $17 to grocery shop for There was never a momentthe week. when Logan told Ashley she didntThen, came the million dollar have to work so hard. It was ancontract when Logan was drafted unspokenofferthatwasalwaysbytheNewEnglandPatriotsin Logan and Ashley Ryan with their kids, Avery and Otto, out there, said Logan. All I everthe third round of the 2013 NFL and their dogs, Leo and Nala. wantedwastomakeherhappy.Draft. Their move to Massachusetts What defines Ashley is her inde-and Logans practice schedule had Ashley thinking about how she pendenceit's what she brings to the table and how she waswas going to continue to contributing to their household and their raised. And, thats what I wanted to support, back then and still torelationship. this day.Fiercely independent, she realized there was now some flexi- Their conversations at home revolved around two subjects:bility in their lives, allowing her to pursue something she truly football and dogs; from Oh, Tom Brady did this in practice,enjoyed. After learning of a job opening at Providence Animal today, to Oh, Mr. Bingley wasnt adopted, today. What can weRescue League in Providence, Rhode Island, she decided to apply. dotogethimadopted?AshleyhelpedstartThePittieStopShe didnt use her relationship with Logan to wrangle a higher Rescue from the ground up. position. The job she was hired for was the same job she had Logan continued to support Ashleys passion for animal wel-applied for, which included cleaning the kennels and litter boxes, fare by headlining events and providing monetary donations, butand walking dogs. The first day of work, she knew she had found he was always thinking of more ways to help her. her place. Her favorite part of the job was when the animals were In 2015, using Logans robust social media pages, which at theadopted and walked out the front door of the shelter with their timehad150kfollowers,thecouplecreatedRyansMonthlynew families.Rescue. On the 26th of each month (Logans jersey number), oneAshley was putting in a full eight hours at the shelter, then shelter dog was profiled on Logans social media page. The firstdriving to a softball facility where she coached until 10 p.m. I just year, they featured 11 hard-to-adopt dogs, and all of them werereally wanted to stay around the game a little bit more, she said.adoptedasaresultoftheexposure.OneofthosedogsDuring this time, Ashley spoke to Logan about the other side was LeonardoLeo for short. Ashley convinced Logan that itofanimalsheltering,includingcrowdedsheltersanddogsnot was important to her work in rescue to adopt the big-headed dog.receiving the help they needed to help make them more adoptable, #RyansMonthlyRescue social media movement quickly tookwhether it was a medical or behavioral issue. In an effort to do off, and shelters from across the country were reaching out to Loganmore, she began shadowing the shelter behaviorist, Katenna Jones.and Ashley. They found themselves overhwhelmed, and needed toShes one of the best in the world, in my opinion, Ashley take a step back for a moment.32 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com"