THE BRIDGEWATER-SOMERVILLE CONNECTION PAGE 8 theconnectionsnj.com FEB/MARCH 2023 Jessica Cavaliere is a fiber artist, art educator, and animal lover. Through her artwork, she strives to capture the beauty, movement, and abundance of color found in nature. Taking the time to slow down and see the beauty every day has inspired her to focus on animals and landscapes in her work, using only wool as her medium. Growing up in Somerset Hills and now a resident of Morris County, Jessica draws inspiration from outings with her family. Jessica’s artwork is created through the process of needle felting, a method similar to that of tattooing. Rather than using ink, her medium is unspun wool. Using a barbed needle tool, the wool is forced into a fabric backing, which serves as a canvas. Recently, Jessica has begun wet felting the backgrounds of her artwork, a process where wool fibers are bound together through agitation with soap and water to form a firm, felted canvas. Needle-felted details are then added to create an almost threedimensional look in her wool paintings. Jessica’s artwork has been exhibited in shows at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, as well as Arts on Main Gallery in Rockaway. Her piece, Rainbow Lorikeet, was included in “Felt: Fibers Transformed” in the Summer 2022 issue of Fiber Arts Now magazine. She was also featured on Morris County Artists Network’s website as its August 2022, “Artist of the Month”. She is regularly commissioned to create animals and landscapes with wool and specializes in pets. Her artwork can also be viewed on Instagram: @jrlcavaliere. JESSICA CAVALIERE jessicacavaliere.com Jessica’s artwork is created through the process of needle felting, a method similar to that of tattooing. Rather than using ink, her medium is unspun wool. Using a barbed needle tool, the wool is forced into a fabric backing, which serves as a canvas. ON THE COVER Plenty of our beloved pets have trouble regulating their emotions, just like us sometimes! However, for our furry companions, it’s almost always overlooked or thought of as being ‘too excited’ or even being a ‘drama queen’ or a ‘troublemaker’. Sometimes when we, even dogs, have too much on our minds, we can’t go about our day as well as we’d be able to if things were more organized or predictable. Think about a menu at a diner: countless options and combinations, pages and pages of them. For many, it’s overwhelming. But for some, they already know what they’re getting or they just get the same thing every time. No need to look at the menu. Then we have a menu at a fancy restaurant: even fewer options. It almost feels like that’s easier to make a choice, no? So, if we compare these analogies to our dogs, we can see how having too many options overwhelms them and causes excitability or nervousness. Wanting to help your dog relax doesn’t have to come only from the emotions of over-excitement that leads to jumping on guests. It could also be from uncertainty or fear which causes continuous panting in stressful situations or even biting. This leads us to the debating discussion of choices. Yes, dogs should have choices. But to have so many that it causes undesirable behaviors? Think of this simple example: we keep our dogs on a leash so that they don’t get too far from us. Even there, we are limiting options. We crate our dogs to limit their options like chewing on furniture. We gate off areas in the house or close doors to limit them having access to certain areas. We always practice limiting options and being clear as to what is or isn’t acceptable; however, we disguise it under the phrase of “setting your dog up for success”. A big part of setting our dogs up for success is setting ourselves up for success too. We often become stressed because we are not clear and consistent (with our dogs and ourselves). We say we want to eat healthier, but we aren’t consistent with buying groceries, cooking dinner at home, or taking a rain check with friends that want to go out. With our dogs, we want them to be polite around guests, but we aren’t willing to make a plan everyone can follow through with to make it work. Both of these examples require minimizing options that don’t serve us like buying less unhealthy options at the grocery store or keeping our dogs on a leash inside around guests. We first have to teach ourselves how to set our own selves up for success before we can do it for others-like our dogs. Goal setting and taking small steps that are achievable help motivate us to keep going. Sometimes we make things too hard and that’s why we give up-even when teaching our dogs new behaviors or habits. Having good communication and a strong support system with the people around you are a game changer. Our dogs need the same from us. They need our support and guidance to make better choices so we can achieve our goals with them. A big part of helping ourselves and our dogs relax is learning triggers and learning how to work through them or be more prepared for them. It’s important for us to slow down and be conscious of our thoughts and actions and make sure they align with what we want for ourselves, whether it be for day-to-day functioning or long-term goals. It is also important to seek help when you need it! A professional at My Dog’s Got Class would love to help teach you how to set you and your dog up for success, set achievable goals, and help set up a plan to keep things consistent! As the holidays come to an end, this is a perfect time to hunker down and work on some self-improvement for both yourself and your dog. New year, better you! Setting Your Dog Up For Success Goal setting and taking small steps that are achievable help motivate us to keep going. Sometimes we make things too hard and that’s why we give upeven when teaching our dogs new behaviors or habits. PETS’ CORNER By Polina Semenoff, CPDT-KA
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