The “Hello, World” titles are ideal for your puppy’s introduction to the big, wide world. Drawing on areas such as sounds, textures, sights and real-world experiences, this title double as a checklist to set your puppy up to be the best dog they can be. We recommend ticking off a maximum of one to two boxes per day with a rest day between them at least once or twice a week, depending on the puppy’s age. Completing each Hello, World level can be awarded with a three-tier rosette. Please don’t rush into filming – each level is designed for the stimuli to be repeated until puppy shows little to no reaction. Each of these should be worked on with plenty of reassurance, tasty rewards and praise.

Hello, World is open to both puppies under 12 months old and adult, newly rehomed or rescued dogs. If you have a dog who does not meet either of these requirements but you feel they would benefit from completing Hello, World, then please either email us prior to filming or leave a note with your submission. Exceptions are made at the assessor's discretion.

Each award comprises of four sections:

• Environments and experiences
• Noises and sounds
• Objects and textures
• Husbandry 

Each level is split into sections, with each section having a number of points to tick off. Each point should be demonstrated once. Videos should be a minimum of 10 seconds long per point. Bronze must be completed before moving onto Silver, and Silver must be completed before moving onto Gold. 

This course is designed for confidence building and safe puppy socialisation. A lot of the criteria will require building a positive association prior to filming so take things slowly and have fun! Sounds should be played at a low volume in short intervals or introduced at a distance in person. If your dog shows signs of stress, we recommend ending the session and taking a step backwards. Dogs should offer some kind of interaction with physical stimuli, such as sniffing, a paw/nose touch, licking and so on. This should be of free will and not forced.

While some level of wariness or stress can be expected with new things, confidence building is encouraged. We will not accept videos where your dog is showing extreme signs of stress such as trying to get away, straining at the leash, barking repeatedly and so on. If your dog responds in this way, we highly recommend offering physical comfort as well as some kind of high value food reward, especially when coupled with nosework (such as scatter feeding) to bring their stress levels down. Please don't feel rushed or pressured to get videos at a short distance - if your dog can only cope from a few metres away, we would rather see this over intense stress.

HELLO, SUPERSTAR - You are welcome to tick off extra points if you'd like. Ticking off every single point in every level of Hello, World will earn your pup the Hello, World Superstar award as well as the Bronze, Silver and Gold Hello, World awards.

For more information on how to submit, please check out our Guidance, Filming & Submissions Page Here.