‘Better than meeting George Clooney!’ TV presenter explains why she's swapped news deadlines for dog training

TV presenter turned dog trainer to the stars Pip Tomson, who grew up in Stourbridge, has told how her love of dogs inspired a midlife career change.

Pip, who has worked on Good Morning Britain, GB News and a host of news shows and channels during her career spanning 30-plus years, has forged a new path - running her own dog training business.

"It's better than meeting George Clooney or Michael Douglas," she told the Express & Star where she started her media career as a trainee print journalist in 1995.

Her fondness for dogs began in childhood, when she used to walk around her grandparents' garden “with an imaginary dog on the end of the lead”.

Badgering her family for a four-legged friend ultimately paid off and she grew up with dogs as part of the household - eventually becoming a dog mum in her 20s while working as a broadcast journalist at ITV Central.

The move to TV came around 2002 after Pip earned her stripes as a news reporter, covering many major stories for the Express & Star in Wolverhampton.

Pip, aged 49, told how she never had becoming a parent on her ‘bingo card’ but she could always see dogs in her life.

“I’ve always seen my life surrounded by dogs, they’ve always been a massive feature in my life.”

Her first very own pooch was a Tibetan terrier and over the years Pip has had a number of furry friends by her side. Her current companions are Bindi and Robin - two mixed-breed dogs rescued from South Korea.

The animals had been destined for the dinner table in a country that still puts dogs on the menu, but thanks to work by animal charity Humane World for Animals they have had a happily ever after with Pip.

Having covered the story of South Korea’s meat trade as a broadcaster working at Good Morning Britain, Pip has become a passionate supporter of the charity.

After around 10 years on Good Morning Britain she joined the team at GB News as one of the growing news channel’s lunchtime presenters.

In spring 2024, however, after nearly three decades in an industry that never stops, she decided it was time to do something different and follow her dream to spend more time with dogs.

After leaving GB News, she enrolled on a dog training course with world-class dog trainer Victoria Stilwell and, armed with top qualifications, she has gone on to establish her own dog training business Pip Tomson Dog Training.

It has been a learning curve, building the venture from the ground up after a lifetime in news and television, but already she has put an array of unruly pups and anxious four-legged friends through their paces with one-to-one tailored training to help owners and their pets enjoy a better partnership.

Celebrity clients that have signed up her services include Good Morning Britain’s Ranvir Singh, LBC’s Tom Swarbrick and England cricketer Darren Gough.

Pip, who now lives in Oxfordshire but still returns to the Black Country and north Worcestershire to visit friends and family in the area, said: “It’s completely different but it brings a sense of huge purpose and also it's about helping people help their dogs.

“If I can play a little part in making sure that not as many dogs get given up and handed over to dog shelters because people can't cope because their dogs are ‘naughty’ then I'm doing a great job.”

She continued: “People come to you with all sorts of issues and they're tearing their hair out and they love their dogs, but they find life with their dog very difficult because their dog won't come when they're called, or the dog's pulling on the lead, or barking. It can be a whole raft of things. And what they want is to enjoy life with their dog again, and have a calmer life with them, and that's what I'm there to do, and not have people give up on them.”

It’s a rewarding process to be a part of, she said, adding: “You see the people progress, you see their relationship and communication change, because suddenly the dog is paying attention to them and they’re understanding their dog better. It's a lovely, lovely thing to watch. You watch it blossom, and sometimes you can make a difference over the tiniest thing, and that one thing has helped change that dog's life.”

Although it seems like worlds apart, the problem-solving skills are similar to those required in journalism.

Pip said: “In journalism, you're listening to people, you're watching people. When you're live on television things don't go to plan, things go wrong. It’s the same with the training process.

“Every dog is an individual, so I don't have a one-size-fits-all approach. The plan is tailored to the dog, and then we have to tweak the plan as we go along. Just like things can fall apart when you're live on air.”

In addition to building her business, Pip continues to freelance in the broadcast world.

“I do a lot at Global LBC News. I do news presentations, but it’s not the Monday to Friday thing. That's been a shift for me where before you’d go in and it would be deadline, deadline, deadline.

“Whereas when you've got a business, it's a completely different way of working and it’s not something you leave at the door when you go home.”

The new venture also means she gets to spend more time in her “happy place” with her own dogs Bindi and Robin who she credits with having taught her so much.

She told how ill-treated they were in South Korea where they were kept in cages and how she hopes one day in the not too distant future the meat trade will become a thing of the past.

Pip, who was educated at Holy Trinity School in Kidderminster before becoming a journalist, also hopes her change of direction will inspire other women that “it’s never too late to go down another path”.

She said: “What you’re chasing in your 20s is not necessarily what you're chasing when you're in your 40s. Although I still love the broadcast world, I just thought there’s something more for me.

“You do change and it's a case of following your instincts and your dreams. It's a very calming place for me, it's a happy place.”

To find out more about Pip’s dog training business visit https://piptomsondogtraining.com/