June 2025
Features
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Saying goodbye to your pet is never easy. These Atlanta end-of-life pet-care providers can help.
A veterinarian for 30 years, Alicia Darden, DVM, provides at-home pet euthanasia, helping Atlantans say goodbye to their loyal companions in comfort. “I help pets transition to passing in a humane way,” she explains. “It allows people to grieve privately, and other members of the household can have closure.”
These Dad’s Garage improvisers have four legs and a whole lotta attitude
The actor on stage can’t seem to find his mark. It’s a Friday night at Dad’s Garage, and we’re here to see him do some improv, but instead he trips over his long limbs and rushes off the stage before the scene can even start. The actor in question is a white Great Dane mix with black spots named Oden: He’s one of four adoptable dogs from the rescue organization Angels Among Us who have joined Dad’s Garage cast members onstage for the show Puppy Prov.
50 years of dog training wisdom from Atlanta’s original dog whisperer
When Atlanta magazine profiled dog whisperer Michael Quattrochi in 1985, he was something of a trailblazer. For one, he believed in training puppies rather than adult dogs. And he didn’t use choke chains or harsh reproaches. Quattrochi is marking his 50th year training dogs; we reached out to catch up and learn more of his secrets for turning unruly pups into our best friends.
“On every call, I prepare for a bite”: Fulton County Animal Services’ mission to protect Atlanta’s pets
Jessica Lawton had recently started her job as a field service officer with Fulton County Animal Services in 2022. The job is part law enforcement, part animal caretaker. Lawton responds to calls for the stray, sick, and injured; cases of abandonment, pet hoarding, and cruelty; and instances of distressed, trapped, or vicious animals.
Hoppy Endings: Inside the Rabbit Society, Georgia’s lifeline for abandoned rabbits
Dark eyes peer at me through the glass. A little nose wiggles, and long, floppy ears perk up as I coo hello. I’m visiting the Georgia House Rabbit Society, a rabbit rescue and grooming and boarding facility in Kennesaw. Most of the other 120-odd rabbits at the Rabbit Society are available for adoption. Many rabbits end up here after being purchased as Easter gifts and quickly abandoned. Others are surrendered by owners who are moving out of the country or under financial pressures.
What life on the job is like for 6 of Atlanta’s working pets
While most house pets live a life of absolute leisure—the average dog spends half its day asleep—a select few are destined for greatness. Across Atlanta, animals of all stripes serve double duty as both beloved pets and hardworking helpers. Here are a few of the city’s most industrious pets, photographed with their caretakers, who told us about life on the job for these working critters.
Only in Atlanta: A timeline of our rogue pets and the chaos they’ve caused
Over the years, Atlanta residents have made plenty of headlines with their exotic pets, often when said pets escape, generating hullabaloo and amusing—or terrorizing—the surrounding neighborhood. Here’s a look back through history at some of Atlanta’s most memorable pets and the chaos they’ve caused.
21 places to eat, shop, and hike with your pet in Atlanta
Atlanta is chock-full of fun pet-friendly activities and pet-pampering goods and services. Here, we round up a few of our favorites around town.
Big Boi dishes on feathered friends Hootie and HOO-Dini
Given Big Boi’s status as one of the most eclectic and subversive musicians in modern history, it would be disappointing if his taste in animals wasn’t a little idiosyncratic—and his relationship with two Eurasian eagle-owls thoroughly ticks that box. Hootie and HOO-Dini, the brother-and-sister pair named after the 1994 Outkast song and legendary escapologist, respectively, have been part of Big Boi’s life for seven years.
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The Connector
Four decades of music and art at Virginia-Highland Summerfest
It wasn’t on purpose that Virginia-Highland Civic Association president Alex Bevel Jones spoke with 40 bands for the 40th iteration of the neighborhood’s annual Summerfest, which returns this month from June 6 through 8. But it certainly has a nice ring to it.
Art sparks connection and conversation at Buckhead Art & Company
In 2023, Karimah McFarlane took a leap and purchased the gallery Buckhead Art & Company. Her mission for the gallery is “to make art accessible to everybody and to have difficult conversations with people whose paths wouldn’t cross,” she says. “And let them know that we actually have more in common than we think.”
The Hapeville Depot Museum brings together artists and historians to explore the city’s stories
Led by director Samantha Singleton, the Hapeville Depot Museum is finding new ways to share the city’s broader history. Its latest initiative is a residency program pairing artists with public historians, who together create museum exhibitions on the lesser-known stories of this Atlanta suburb.
The Goods
A Georgia Tech student’s ethereal lamps combine human creativity with mathematical precision
There’s a glow emanating from the windows of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Hinman Research Building, and it’s cast by a collection of unusual geometric lamps. If you’re there at the right time, you might catch Sam Thurman using a 3D printer to create one based on his custom design script. Such 3D printers are typically used for industrial prototypes, says Thurman, a student at Georgia Tech’s Master of Science in Urban Design program, who also holds a master’s degree in architecture from the school. “But a few people are pushing them into the realm of high-concept sculptural art the way I am.”
7 looks that capture the essence of ADAMA’s Flowers & Seeds Gala
Arts patronage met creative expression against the backdrop of the Flowers & Seeds Gala, an annual fundraiser for the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA). The event, which celebrated Black art and culture from across the African diaspora, honored sculptor Curtis Patterson and painter Hasani Sahlehe with the Nellie Mae Rowe Award, supported by the Judith Alexander Foundation.
