Wimbledon Tried to Train Dogs To Replace Ball Boys: This is What Happened

The All England Club had a plan to reform the ball boy system at Wimbledon. The plan failed...and it is the cutest thing.

Throughout time, the historic venue has had a tried system for getting their tennis balls back during games. If a ball was hit out or needed to be retrieved, a selected child would serve as the ball boy for the game, grabbing the ball and returning it to the players.

In an attempt to modernize this system, the club started to formulate a new plan. This plan relied largely on some of the most famously loved creatures known to mankind: dogs.

The All England Club idea was that, instead of a child retrieving the balls, dogs could be trained to retrieve balls during game play. We have to say, the logic makes sense. Dogs are incredibly intelligent creatures and have been trained to accomplish a great number of feats. They are known for being obsessed with fetch: it's kind of their whole thing. PLUS it would be adorable.

Unfortunately, the plan failed. Why?

The dogs didn't want to give the balls back.

Sure, the puppies ran and grabbed the tennis balls, but, upon returning to the foot of the tennis player, the canines demanded they be given treats before they would deign to drop the ball.

What can we say? They know their rights.

So, it does not look like we will be seeing dogs at Wimbledon any time soon, but we give it an A for effort (and an A+ for being ADORABLE).