meet the founders

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 Pause for Paws Animal Sanctuary wasn’t founded in a boardroom, it was born in a living room, built one rescue at a time by a family who simply couldn’t say no to a soul in need. Since 2005, dogs have been a constant presence in the McAllister home; every single one a rescue. Some were abandoned, some were abused, others forgotten, but each was welcomed as family. At first, it felt like compassion. Eventually, it became a calling.

Eric spent over a decade in the food and beverage industry before shifting to non-emergency medical transport (NEMT), where he found a deeper purpose: caring for people with vulnerabilities. His daughter Clover joined him in the field, bringing her lived experience with diabetes and an unshakable empathy that turned them into an award-worthy team. While they drove patients to rehab centers and treatments, they were also quietly transforming their own home into a safe haven for displaced animals.

Meanwhile, Eric’s son Trent, who lives with blindness and ADHD, found his own rhythm of resilience and responsibility. Sustaining traditional employment posed challenges for him, but he embraced a vital role in the sanctuary from the beginning; tending to daily care, companionship, and structure for all the dogs that came through their doors. His deep intuition with animals became a quiet, steady heartbeat of Pause for Paws.

In 2025, the family had a realization: they weren’t just fostering. They had created a sanctuary, and they were fully funding it out of pocket. Rather than scaling back, they doubled down. Eric, Clover, and Trent made the bold decision to walk away from their other careers and dedicate themselves full-time to the nonprofit they had inadvertently built. With over $15,000 of personal investments and countless hours of labor and love, Pause for Paws officially became a registered sanctuary.

More Than Shelter: Belief in Sentience, Sovereignty, and Sanctuary

At Pause for Paws, we believe animals are not property. They are sentient, sovereign beings with emotions, preferences, and an undeniable will to live with love and safety. Our sanctuary is not a holding place; it is a healing place. We don’t "flip" dogs. We rehabilitate, listen, and allow each animal to exist as they are, without the pressure to perform for adopters or fit a timeline.

We recognize where the animal welfare industry has lost its way: when care is governed by profit margins, when dogs are treated as inventory, and when outcomes matter more than individual journeys. We are here to interrupt that system. We are here to do it differently.

Our Mission and Business Model

Pause for Paws is a nonprofit designed to prioritize the ethics of care over the efficiency of commerce. Our model is built on sustainability and transparency:

We focus on providing lifelong sanctuary for dogs who are overlooked or misunderstood.   We develop ethical training alternatives that rely on partnership, not domination.   We create educational outreach to communities about humane treatment and the importance of empathy in animal care.   We maintain a small, high-impact team so that every donation goes directly to care, not bureaucracy.

Our next leap is an ambitious one: expanding our sanctuary to the White Mountains of Arizona, where more land means more lives saved.