Holly and Hugo Review (2024 Upd.) Is it Legit or a Scam?

Last Updated on October, 2024

We live in a modern world where we don’t need to commit our effort, time, and money to physically attend classes anymore because everything is made available through modern technology.

At least most of it. So are dog training classes. Holly and Hugo is one such popular e-learning platform for all animal education.

The Philosophy of Holly and Hugo is to enhance your relationship with your pet. Isn’t it what you also want as a pet parent? So this is the first sign that both your end goals align, and it’s a great sign to get started.

In this Holly and Hugo course review, you will find all the relevant information, including the course creators, course variety offerings, teaching techniques, my experience, and my verdict on if Holly and Hugo are worth it. Spoiler Alert! IT IS.

About Holly and Hugo

Considering these factors, Holly and Hugo, with the help of industry leaders, field experts, and animal lovers, offer 30+ online courses, from food to training to grooming to animal psychology. 

So far, Holly and Hugo have educated 50,000+ across 87 countries with over 90% student satisfaction rate.

Behind the Holly and Hugo Courses

All Holly and Hugo courses are designed and created by a worldwide team of professional online educators and experts with years of experience in the field.

Most of the animal behavior and dog training courses are taught by three prominent professionals as listed below;

• Dr. Pippa Elliott, BVMS MRCV– A veterinarian with over 27 years of experience in companion animal practice. She is also an expert in Animal Health and Wellness.
• Ian Stone– A Certified professional dog trainer (CPDT-KA) and AKC-certified good canine citizen evaluator. With a master’s degree in Teaching, Ian has been working in Animal welfare for many years.
• Deborah Shores DVM– An American Veterinarian with a Bachelor’s in Animal Science. 

Courses Offered By Holly and Hugo

All courses are designed to cater to anyone with a desire for learning. You don’t require any prior qualifications to follow these courses.

The courses are either easy-to-follow videos, text, or a combination. At the end of each module, you must take exam questions in multiple choice and true/false. 

Every individual course offered by Holly and Hugo is priced at $49. But you can also purchase an ‘all access pass’ to access the entire library of over 30+ courses at $69.

Currently, Holly and Hugo is running a promotional discount where you can purchase individual courses at $24.99 and the ‘all courses access’ at $39.99.

All courses are ICOES-accredited and CPD certified. Through most courses, you can earn Continuing Education (CE) / Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits.

CE/CPD points are recognized across the US and internationally by professional member bodies and academic institutions. But to be eligible for the certification, you must have at least a 55% pass rate on each exam.

So rest assured, the courses meet the highest standards for online education. Once purchased and activated, you will be given 60 days of access to complete the course. You can also extend this access for a small fee. 

The Holly and Hugo course library is sectioned into 4 categories as;

• Animal Behavior
• Dog Training
• Animal Careers
• Pet Care

Animal Behavior

This category covers courses like animal psychology and pet sitting to help you understand the natural form of animals and how to handle them better in light of the animal world.

Animal Psychology

Created by Dr. Pippa Elliott, BVMS MRCVS, a veterinarian with over 27 years of experience in companion animal practice, this course will teach you the psychology behind an animal’s behavior, reactions, and instincts.

Learning this will help you respond accordingly to ensure your and your pet’s environment is balanced and peaceful. 

By understanding your pet better, you will not be able to tackle pet- situations with more light; you will also be able to better your relationship with your pet.

This course is a collection of 11 modules covering topics like domestication, normal dog behavior, dog communication, understanding dogs, and many more. 

This course is for anyone curious about animal behavior, pet parents and professionals who want better communication or solutions for behavioral issues, and anyone dedicated to animal welfare.

Animal Training and Pet Sitting

This course is curated by Deborah Shores, an American Veterinarian for all animal lovers looking to work with pets, pet parents who want to care, better understand and train their pets, pet sitters and dog walkers who want to deliver better service, and those interested in volunteering, fostering and owning animals.

By following this course, you can acquire the skills and knowledge required to become a pet owner without a real owner.

You will be able to care for all the needs of different species of animals and fish in terms of safety and security, handling a crisis, and seeking help when required.

This course covers 17 detailed modules, including training puppies and adult dogs, fundamentals of dog walking, handling and getting around with pets, and first aid.

Dog Training

Puppy and New Dog Training

This course is for all the new doggy pet parents who want to build a strong bond with their pet while nurturing good behavior, for volunteers working in rescue shelters or kennels wanting to train dogs to help them find a home, and for aspiring pet care business owners.

This is a 5 module course taught by Ian Stone. It covers dog training topics on housebreaking, socialization, basic commands, and puppy biting.

As a pet parent, it’s your responsibility to ensure your dog is on its best behavior so your pup is safe and safe to be around. To help you with that, this course will guide you through a step-by-step process featuring video lessons with real dogs.

All you learn from this class applies to dogs of any age, so you don’t have to worry if your new pet is a puppy, shelter dog, or senior dog.

Reward-Based Dog Training

Through this course, Dr. Pippa Elliott teaches reward-based training principles to help you create a loving, friendly, and positive environment to support stress-free learning for your dog.

By the end of this course, you will master the practical skills of basic and advanced discipline techniques to encourage good behavior and correct bad ones. 

This is a 6-moduled flexible course created based on animal psychology to provide effective results. From basic training theory to practice to correcting problem behaviors, you can learn all you need to train your dog lovingly.

Dog guardians, pet owners, professionals, animal lovers, and dog handlers can all take this course to understand dog behavior better to mold a well-behaved dog.

Moderating Dog Behavior

The Moderating Dog Behavior course teaches you to break dogs out of their bad behaviors. Every year 1000s of dogs end up in shelters because of their poor behavioral habits.

So as responsible pet parents, owners, professionals, and volunteers, you must teach your dog basic commands and house rules you want your pet to obey and follow. 

This course will help you establish yourself as a commanding figure to give your dog the required training while strengthening the bond you share.

From fixing jumping and barking to trick training and troubleshooting, you will gain the necessary knowledge to ensure you and your dog are on the same page regarding acceptable behavior. 

Dog Commands for Beginners

The Dog Commands for Beginners, taught by Ian Stone, is for anyone who works with puppies and dogs of any age, pet parents who prefer self-training, and people interested in getting into the pet care business. 

This 5 module course will equip you with the required knowledge on essential dog commands and training your dog in bite-sized chunks.

The course videos, along with Stone’s practical advice, will help you master teaching basic dog commands to your dog, and in no time, you will be able to keep your dog safe and under control, away from frustrating dog behavior.

Dog Walking Basics

The Dog walking basics is an in-depth course specially curated for pet sitters, dog walkers, and other professionals to acquire the required knowledge to help establish a profitable career by impressing current clients and attracting new ones.

This is a 5 module course created by Dr Pippa Elliott. Some topics covered include the fundamentals and advanced principles of dog walking, first aid, and training and psychology.

Through this course, you will learn how to safely approach and interact with dogs of different temperaments, read body language to respond appropriately, calm anxiety, and administer first aid when required. 

Dog Socialization and Obedience Masterclass

The Dog Socialization and Obedience Masterclass is for all pet parents who love their dogs and want to learn more about them, volunteers working with dogs, and people who want to set a good foundation for their career with animals.

This course covers 5 major modules; building trust starts with You, what’s your dog thinking/Doing?, correcting domestic Behaviors, correcting social behaviors, and Obedience. 

Following this course, you can become your dog behaviorist and training guru. The end goal of this course is to empower you to be hands-on and involved in your dog’s training, fix bad behaviors, and spot future issues to tackle them accordingly without letting them grow.

Accredited Dog Walking Course

Through the accredited Dog walking course by Ian Stone, you can learn to leash train your dog to prevent jumping at strangers, leaping into traffic and crowds, and help your dog walk calmly without pulling and dragging you around. 

The course covers essential information you need to know before starting training, walks you through training stages, tension control, distraction training, real-world practice, and many more detailed sections to teach you to walk your dog on a leash.

The course is ideal for many groups of people, including pet parents/dog guardians who want their new dog to walk properly on a leash, dog walkers, pet sitters, and volunteers at animal rescues and shelters who want to correct basic dog behavior to ensure the dogs get a good, forever home.

Dog Training Essentials

The Dog training essentials course is a step-by-step guide that includes the fundamental concepts, basic training commands, behavioral problem fixing, and some tricks and games to train your dog at your own pace. 

This course, created by Ian Stone, will provide a thorough insight into the essentials required to start your training journey in the comfort of your home rather than visiting a training center every week.

Pet parents, animal lovers, and shelter volunteers will benefit from this course as it helps build a strong relationship with the dog.

Animal Careers

Under animal careers, you can find careers with animals, accredited veterinary assistant, a vet in the making, and other courses to help you establish a business in this field.

Pet Care

Categorized under pet care, you will find courses from pet first aid and CPR to dog grooming to clothes and crafts for your pet to help you take better care of your pet.

Training Techniques Followed in the Holly and Hugo Courses

The Holly and Hugo training courses follow a scientific approach to training dogs. The courses are written based on observations and proven principles derived from the psychology of animal behavior, actions, and instincts.

The training method also ingrains reward-based training that has shown effective and lasting results by creating a friendly environment for your dog to learn from.

With course modules covering dog communication through body language, vocals, and sniffing, Holly and Hugo courses set a solid foundation to help you teach your dog by employing scientifically approved training techniques.

Customer Testimonials

Below are a few reviews from Trustpilot where students have shared their experiences with Holly and Hugo courses.

It is important to note that not all reviews are appreciation and praise because customer experience varies from person to person. And by reading these reviews, you can set your expectations on a certain level. 

Figure 1. In this review the student appreciates the ease of use and the extent of useful content made available through the course.

Figure 2. This review reflects on the up-to-date information and organized structure of the courses that makes learning easier.

Figure 3. Although this student had a good experience in terms of course quality and pricing, the course accessibility period was not to satisfaction.

My Experience With Holly and Hugo Courses

I learned about Holly and Hugo through Indeed when I was looking for something completely unrelated to animals. Then I started my research by reading reviews and browsing their website. 

Although I am a dog owner, what caught my attention was the fact that certain courses cover content even on birds, rabbits, and fish. So it’s for all pet parents. The course library carries a versatile collection of dog courses, from grooming to nutrition to training; you can find it all there. It’s like a one-stop shop for all dog owners looking to educate themselves on better pet care.

After having a whiff of that versatility, I wouldn’t let my research go in vain. So I signed up for an account.

And for me, the all-access pass was worth spending on because of the number of courses it covered against the individual course price. Besides, the library has many interesting courses you can follow apart from dog training courses.

With my ‘all access pass,’ animal psychology seemed like a sensible course for starting the animal education journey. My first impressions were that the course was detailed, simple, and easy to follow.

The course covered a great extent of helpful information, and with the included quizzes, you can test your knowledge on what you’ve learned so far.

So far, I’ve followed through all the animal behavior courses and a few dog training courses. Honestly, I was concerned about how effectively I would communicate the training commands to my dog.

But to my surprise, the courses I followed gave me adequate knowledge to confidently establish myself as the commanding figure for my dog. 

I see my dog acknowledging, reciprocating, and responding to most of the commands I have taught.

Since my main goal was to set the right foundation and train my dog from the basics, I’d say I achieved what I wanted. So, YES. I had a great learning experience with Holly and Hugo’s courses.

Are the Holly and Hugo Courses Worth it?

Besides, Holly and Hugo’s courses are designed to strengthen your bond with your dog through effective training methods that give lasting results.

On that note, Yes, the Holly and Hugo courses are worth it. To ensure it is worth your investment, I recommend getting the ‘all access pass’ because it is definitely value for money.

Pros & Cons of the Holly and Hugo Courses

Other online training programs we’ve reviewed:

• DIYK9 Dog Training Online Course Review (Checkout this here.)
• SpiritDog Training Online Courses Review (Checkout this here.)

Frequently Asked Questions

End Note

Although dogs are intelligent creatures who easily catch on to bad habits without any repetition, breaking these habits and building good ones takes time and patience.

With consistent and repeated training using effective methods, the results you reap will be worth your hard work. And this is exactly what you’ll get by following the Holly and Hugo Courses.

Let me leave you with this simple sentence that made a difference in me: Building a stronger bond with your fur friend should be based on respect, not bribery.