Why Pau Pair — Pau Pair Pet Care

Pau Pair Pet Care  ·  South Jersey

The Pet Care
You've Been
Looking For

Some families find us right away. Most wish they'd found us sooner — after the sitter who wasn't quite right, the groomer they kept going back to out of habit, the boarding drop-off that never got easier. What they were looking for was always this.

Erin MacDermott with champion Bichon Frisé
Elite Pet Stylists · Professional Pet Au Pairs

We don't offer pet sitting. We don't offer grooming. We offer a relationship — and for the families who experience it, nothing else comes close.

Most families find us after a version of the same story. A sitter who was fine but never quite felt right. A groomer they kept returning to not because they loved them, but because switching felt like too much trouble. A boarding drop-off that got easier to do but never actually felt okay. The pet was safe. The groom was acceptable. And somewhere in the back of their mind, they wondered if this was simply what it was.

It isn't. Building lasting relationships is not a philosophy we talk about — it is how we work, every single day. That relationship starts with your pet. It extends to your entire family. And it is the foundation on which every visit, every appointment, and every standard we hold has been built. When you experience care that's designed this way, you don't go back. You wonder why it took so long to find.

Boarding & Kennels

A facility your pet stays in while you're away.

Your pet sleeps somewhere unfamiliar, on someone else's schedule, surrounded by the sounds and energy of other animals. Staff rotate. Routines shift. For resilient, social dogs it can be perfectly fine. For pets who are anxious, routine-dependent, or simply deeply bonded to home — the week away is something they endure, and the adjustment on both ends shows.

The Pau Pair Difference

Your home. Your pet's routine. Completely undisrupted.

Your pet eats at their usual time, from their own bowl, in their own kitchen. They sleep in their usual spot. Their walk happens when it always happens. There is no adjustment period — because there is nothing to adjust to. We don't arrive with a checklist. We arrive knowing your dog. Their personality, their preferences, what unsettles them, what lights them up, and exactly what they need to feel safe and loved while you're away.

Standard In-Home Sitting

Someone shows up, covers the basics, and your pet is safe.

Most in-home sitters are kind, responsible people — and for a straightforward dog in a low-complexity household, that can be entirely sufficient. The gaps appear when the pet is anxious, medically complex, or deeply bonded to routine — or when the sitter changes, the instructions don't carry over, and everything has to be explained from scratch again.

The Pau Pair Difference

One dedicated sitter. One backup. Both introduced before we ever work alone.

Your assigned sitter and their backup are both introduced at the very first Meet & Greet — so there is never a moment when an unfamiliar face walks through your door. Your sitter doesn't simply follow instructions. They build a genuine understanding of your pet — their routine, their quirks, their medical needs, the specific way they need to be loved. That depth of familiarity cannot be replicated by a rotating staff. It is what makes the Pau Pair experience genuinely different — and genuinely better.

Grooming Salons

Drop off, wait, pick up.

Your pet is dropped at a facility, checked in with whoever is at the front desk, and may wait in a crate before their appointment begins — around the sounds of other dogs, other dryers, other people's energy. Many salon groomers are highly skilled, and the results can be excellent. But the environment itself is stimulating and unfamiliar, and for sensitive animals, that context shapes the entire experience — regardless of how good the groomer is.

The Pau Pair Difference

One pet. One stylist. A calm, private spa that comes directly to your door.

The van pulls up, your stylist steps out, and your pet is the only animal on the appointment. There is no lobby, no holding crate, no ambient noise from other dogs. The environment is calm and controlled from the moment they step inside. For pets who have always been difficult at the groomer — pulling, shaking, shutting down — the response to mobile grooming is often immediate. The grooming was never the problem. The setting was.

Standard Mobile Grooming

A skilled groomer, a good van, and an appointment you book when you need one.

The convenience is real, and for many families it's a meaningful upgrade. But outside of that, the standard of care can vary widely — from groomer to groomer, booking to booking. What "thorough" means, what gets checked, what gets communicated, what gets remembered about your pet from one visit to the next — all of it is largely undefined. You are trusting that the person who shows up shares your standard. That trust may be well-placed. But it is still an assumption.

The Pau Pair Difference

Elite Pet Stylists who sculpt, assess, and genuinely know your pet.

Every Pau Pair grooming relationship begins with a Complimentary In-Home Consultation — because this is not a service you book once and see how it goes. It is a relationship we are building together, and we want to make sure we are the right fit for each other before either of us commits. Your stylist comes to you, meets your pet in person, assesses their coat, discusses your goals, and builds a plan entirely around them. Before the first appointment even begins, we bring the van to your home so your pet can explore it at their own pace — the table, the dryer, the environment — with no pressure and no scissors in sight. To our knowledge, no other mobile grooming company does this. We believe the time it takes changes every single appointment that follows.

No one here picks up scissors to give a trim. We sculpt. We shape. We enhance. We transform. The coat is our medium — and every dog who sits on our table leaves as a work of art.

Pau Pair's Elite Pet Stylists don't just groom — they compete. In grooming competitions. In the dog show world. Alongside some of the most recognized animals and handlers in the country. This is not a marketing detail. This is where our standards come from. When your stylist steps into your driveway, they are bringing that level of craft, that obsession with precision, and that genuine love of the art directly to your pet.

Expertise is not something you achieve once. It is something you earn — and then continue to earn — throughout your career. Every member of our team regularly pursues advanced certifications, continuing education, workshops, seminars, and hands-on training. We attend industry events not because we are required to, but because we are genuinely invested in being the best at what we do. The families who trust us deserve professionals who are actively growing — not simply relying on what they learned years ago.

Technical skill matters. Knowledge matters.
But character matters more.

Every member of our team is carefully selected, extensively trained, and held to the highest standards of professionalism, knowledge, and compassionate care. We seek people who are patient, curious, genuinely obsessed with the craft, and who take real pride in the relationships they build with the families they serve. Those qualities cannot be trained into someone who does not already carry them. We look for them first — always.

When you trust Pau Pair with your pet, you are not simply booking a service. You are welcoming someone into your family's life. We do not take that lightly. Every animal in our care is a living, breathing individual who is deeply loved by the people who matter most to them. We hold that truth in mind from the first visit to the last — and it shapes everything about how we show up.

That conviction is what drives our groomers to compete on weekends when they don't have to. It's what makes our sitters leave your home in better shape than they found it — mail collected, plants watered, lights rotated — without being asked. It's why the relationship between your pet and the person caring for them doesn't reset between bookings. It compounds. It deepens. And over time, it becomes something that genuinely cannot be replaced.

What that looks like in practice

  • Our stylists compete. Actually compete. Grooming competitions, dog shows, industry events — our team participates at the highest levels of the craft. What they bring back every time is applied directly to the pets in our care.
  • Every relationship begins with a Complimentary Consultation. Your stylist comes to your home, meets your pet, and builds a plan before a single appointment is booked. Then we bring the van over so your pet can explore it — the table, the dryer, all of it — entirely on their terms, before the first groom ever begins.
  • Your sitter and backup both meet your pet before day one. Introduced together at the Meet & Greet. There is never a moment when an unfamiliar face walks through your door.
  • The small things — and there are so many of them. Mail collected. Plants watered. Lights rotated. Trash handled. Paws wiped. Teeth brushed mid-visit. A handwritten postcard left at the close of every extended stay. A welcome gift at the first Meet & Greet. A personalized update after every single visit. We go above and beyond in every way, shape, and form we can find — because that is simply who we are.

Why Pau Pair Exists

Erin MacDermott

Founder & CEO, Pau Pair Pet Care

Erin MacDermott has spent more than twenty years building a career defined by one belief: that the most important thing in pet care is not the service you provide — it is the relationship you build.

An award-winning professional groomer, accomplished breeder, and handler of champion Bichon Frisés and Standard Poodles, Erin has spent decades developing a deep, working knowledge of canine behavior, coat health, breed preservation, and individualized care. Throughout her career, she has worked with numerous #1 nationally ranked and top winning show dogs and handlers, earning recognition that reflects both technical mastery and a genuine love of the craft.

Erin is also the sole founder of an award-winning pet resort and spa in Cherry Hill — a facility she built from the ground up, grew into one of the most respected businesses in the region, and later sold so she could turn her full focus toward the gap she had been watching grow for years: the space between what pet care claimed to offer and what families actually experienced. That clarity became Pau Pair. What she found, again and again, was that what mattered most to families was never the service itself. It was trust. Consistency. Knowing that the person caring for their animal truly knew them — and genuinely cared. That conviction is the foundation everything here is built on.

"Exceptional care starts with relationships. Everything we do starts there — from the heart."

Erin MacDermott  ·  Founder

Erin's Background

  • Award-winning groomer & breeder of champion Bichon Frisés and Standard Poodles
  • 20+ years hands-on experience at the highest level of the craft
  • Worked with numerous #1 nationally ranked & top winning show dogs and handlers
  • Founder & former owner, award-winning Cherry Hill pet resort & spa
  • Member, Bichon Frisé Club of America & BFCNJ
  • Active with BFCA/BFCNJ Rescue, Homeward Bound & AWA

The First Step

Your pet deserves
this. Let's begin.

Every Pau Pair relationship starts with a conversation — in your home, with the people who will actually care for your pet. We'd love to start yours. Explore what we offer, or apply today and we'll be in touch. We genuinely cannot wait to meet you.