About Frankie
Over the past five years, in a weekly newspaper column, Frankie has answered more than 260 letters from dogs who write to her about the indignity of being dressed up. The fear of being adopted and living with humans. The heartbreak of being left home alone. The resentment of a new puppy who showed up uninvited.
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Frankie answers each letter with wisdom and warmth — the kind of hard-won perspective that comes from years of discussions about the lessons of life with dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds, from all walks of life.
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Her advice, it turns out, applies just as well to humans.
Frankie came from a shelter and soon after became Geneva’s service dog. She has been a companion, a confidante, and for more than five years, the most trusted advice columnist in the room.
The Column
Dear Frankie began as a weekly newspaper advice column — written in the tradition of Dear Abby, filtered through the sensibility of a dog who has learned that the best advice is honest, the best listener is patient, and the best response is one that leaves the reader feeling a little less alone and uplifted.
More than 260 columns later, the letters are still arriving.
Selected columns have been collected into two books: Dear Frankie - What Dogs Really Think and Dear Frankie - What Dogs Really Think About Humans. Both are available on Amazon.
The Show
In April 2026, Dear Frankie came to life on screen.
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Frankie and her co-host Rufus — a bloodhound of considerable gravitas — host a talk radio advice show where every episode begins with a letter, and ends with a little more clarity about possible solutions. Rufus reads. Frankie advises. The music plays. The problems, it turns out, become smaller when there is a solution.
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New episodes air three times a week on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
The Dear Frankie Mission
Frankie came from a shelter. That is not a footnote. It is the foundation of everything Dear Frankie does.
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From the inception of the first column her mission is to support shelters like the one that cared for her — the ones doing the quiet, essential work of making sure no dog runs out of chances. Most of the profits from the books, the show, and all Dear Frankie partnerships and collaborations will go to animal shelters.
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When you share a Dear Frankie episode, and ask others to share, you become part of that mission.
Frankie's Right-Pawed Assistant
The voice behind Frankie belongs to Geneva Woodruff — an educator with master’s degrees in elementary education and special education and a PhD in early childhood education, whose career was spent working with and designing programs for some of the country’s most vulnerable children and families.
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That work was funded by multimillion-dollar federal grants and major foundations, including the first program for children with AIDS in the country that she directed and was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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Geneva’s years of experience listening to children’s stories about their lives and families, worries, and questions about the things they don’t understand or confuse them is woven into every column she writes, episode she creates, and letter she answers.
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She understands that advice dressed in dogs clothing is often easier to accept when it is delivered from one wearing a collar.