In this episode of the Peace • Power • & Purpose Podcast, we sit down with Fransi Rottmaier, a German K9 handler and founder of Canine Guardian, for a raw, grounded conversation on trauma, fear, identity, and healing after high-risk service.

Fransi’s life spans elite K9 work, military service, and private security—alongside years of navigating PTSD, isolation, and systemic failure in environments where weakness is punished and silence is expected.

This is not a conversation about labels or buzzwords.

It’s about what happens when the nervous system is pushed past its limits—and how real healing begins through awareness, discipline, community, and purpose.

In this episode, we cover:

• The real cost of unresolved trauma

• Why fear is not the enemy—but a signal

• Identity loss after military and high-risk service

• Being “the first” or “the only” in warrior environments

• Leadership failure vs. personal responsibility

• What K9s reveal about emotional truth humans try to hide

• PTSD, survival patterns, and long-term recovery

• The role of peer support and values-based community

• Turning perceived weaknesses into heightened awareness and capability

Fransi explains how working with highly aggressive K9s demanded complete emotional honesty—because dogs read what humans suppress. Those lessons now shape her work: teaching awareness, safety, and understanding instead of fear-based control.

This episode is for:

Veterans, first responders, women in male-dominated fields, leaders under sustained pressure, and anyone rebuilding after trauma or living in survival mode too long.

This is not motivational fluff.

It’s a grounded conversation about responsibility, healing, and choosing to stay alive.

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PTSD recovery, veteran mental health, K9 handler, trauma healing, women in service, leadership under pressure, peer support, purpose after service, nervous system regulation, survival trauma