Frank & Dorothy Hardy – The Visible ‘Invisible’ Handlers

BY AMY FERNANDEZ

The art of handling, it’s often said, is all about being straight out of Hollywood. “Throughout his career Frank was invisible. The greatest handlers go down in history for their dogs-not their celebrity. That’s a remarkable talent and nobody did that better than Frank Hardy. I know, some of you are saying, who’s Frank Hardy?

Okay, there was Ch. Crosswynd’s Crackerjack, two-time Westminster group winner; Ch. The Ring’s Banshee, top Hound of 1960; Ch. Pondwick’s Hobgoblin, the dog that revolutionized type in American Wirehaired Dachshunds. Oh yeah…all those magnificent Hounds. That’s how the dog world remembers Frank Hardy, which is even more impressive considering his larger than life presence. Frank’s career spanned those post-WWII decades when the sport truly became a national pastime and the formerly tight-knit handling profession suddenly became a crowded field.

Even within that frenetic context, he stood out in sharp relief. Dachshund breeder, judge, and former professioanl handler Jane Fowler recalls Frank’s commanding presence. She says, “He was a big man, about 6’4” and god knows what he weighed (around 300 pounds by most accounts) but very elegant in his bearing. He was very well-educated, fluent in several languages, with impeccable manners, and a heavy German accent.” His dramatic physical presence was matched by a back story that seemed straight out of Hollywood. “Throughout his career Frank was known as W. Frank Hardy” says Fowler. “His real name was Werner Franz. He chose Hardy because he wanted an American sounding name and he loved the Hardy Boys mysteries.” Actually he didn’t have a lot of time to think it over.

Born in 1912, Frank arrived in America in 1932 as part of Germany’s hockey team competing at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. “Frank came from an aristocratic family with a large estate outside of Berlin.” Fowler explains that, “he arrived in America intending to stay only briefly. While he was here his father contacted him and told him not to return to Germany under any circumstances.” (Hitler became Germany’s chancellor in 1933.) She says, “Ultimately he lost both his parents in the concentration camps. His half sister Mariana was sent to Switzerland in one of those evacuation programs for Jewish children.”

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Posted by Alex on May 21 2018. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.