This is a submission for Weekend Challenge: Dog Days Edition

What I Built

Pawford Academy — Where good dogs become great dogs! 🐾

A native iOS app built with SwiftUI that helps dog owners track their puppy's training journey. The app features an AI-powered voice coach powered by ElevenLabs that cheers your dog on after every training session, a daily mood tracker, and a graduation certificate when your pup completes all their sessions.

The idea came from a personal place. I had a black Labrador named Blacky when I was growing up — he was my best friend. Building Pawford Academy was a way to honor that memory and create something genuinely useful for dog lovers everywhere. Whether you have a Golden Retriever, a Husky, a Chow Chow, or a Labrador like Blacky — every dog deserves to graduate from Pawford Academy! 🎓

Key features:

• Dog profile setup with name, breed (16 options!), and age
• Daily mood tracker with 6 moods (Happy, Playful, Tired, Grumpy, Anxious, Calm)
• Training session logger for 10 classic commands (Sit, Stay, Shake, Roll Over, and more)
• ElevenLabs AI voice encouragement after every session and mood selection
• Session complete celebration screen with paw print progress tracker (🐾🐾🐾)
• Graduation certificate when all sessions are complete — complete with dog's name, breed, and Class of 2026!

Demo

🎥 Watch the full demo here:

Note: The simulator recording doesn't capture audio — the ElevenLabs voice encouragement plays live in the app after each action! Judges who run the app will hear Pawford speak after every mood selection and training session. 🔊

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/gamya-hub/PawfordAcademy

Code

How I Built It

Tech Stack:

• SwiftUI — Native iOS UI with warm orange gradient design throughout
• ElevenLabs API — Text-to-speech voice encouragement using the Bella voice
• AVFoundation — Audio playback for the ElevenLabs generated speech
• Combine — Reactive state with @Published and ObservableObject
• URLSession — Async networking for ElevenLabs API calls

The ElevenLabs integration was the most exciting part. Every time a user logs a training session or selects a mood, the app sends the text to the ElevenLabs API and plays back the warm, encouraging response. The voice counts down remaining sessions to graduation and delivers a special announcement when the dog completes all sessions.

Here's how simple the API call is in Swift:

let url = URL(string: "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/text-to-speech/\(voiceId)")!
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.setValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type")
request.setValue(apiKey, forHTTPHeaderField: "xi-api-key")

let body: [String: Any] = [
    "text": text,
    "model_id": "eleven_multilingual_v2",
    "voice_settings": ["stability": 0.5, "similarity_boost": 0.75]
]

The app was built entirely from scratch during the challenge weekend. The graduation flow was my favourite feature to build — the paw print progress tracker (🐾🐾🐾 filling up one by one) gives users a clear, delightful sense of progress toward their dog's big day.

One thing I'm proud of: The app uses @Published and ObservableObject for the ElevenLabs service, which means the UI shows a "Pawford is speaking..." indicator while the voice is playing — a small detail that makes the AI feel alive and present.

Prize Categories

Best Use of ElevenLabs — ElevenLabs powers the entire voice coaching experience in Pawford Academy. Every mood selection, every training session logged, and every graduation milestone is celebrated with a warm AI voice response generated in real time using the ElevenLabs text-to-speech API.

This article was written by me; AI was used to improve grammar and readability.