"I wasn't expecting it at all," she said yesterday, as she recovered from her big weekend.
The full-time groomer from Dunedin was recognised for her work on her own poodle, Paris, and also placed second for her work on a borrowed Airedale terrier.
The dogs were bathed, dried and fluffed out for the competition, and then the groomers had to whip them into shape within a time frame that depended on the breed.
Ms McCauley's work on Paris was all done with scissors, instead of the more traditional clippers.
The judge commented on the "flair" she put into the poodle, she said.
"It takes a lot of skill to scissor a dog all over."
She had been grooming for four years, and at the weekend she also passed her second grooming exam on a West Highland white terrier.
Last year, she was certified to groom a gun dog.
