For a Good Cause -- Kristi Hofstetter

--Story by June Casagrande; photo by

Jamison has his sea legs -- all four of them. And the seeing-eye dog

hopeful owes the salt in his blood to foster mom Kristi Hofstetter and

Adventures at Sea’s Kathy Leek.

The two women met by chance at a social of the Anaheim Convention and

Visitors Bureau. There, a conversation about guide dogs for the blind

took shape as an idea that could one day be a great benefit to a blind

person.

“The dogs have to be comfortable walking on all kinds of surfaces,”

said Hofstetter, an Anaheim resident who is raising the golden retriever

voluntarily until he’s ready to enter guide dog training school.

The 7-month-old Jamison will then be returned to his owner, San

Rafael-based Guide Dogs for the Blind, in hopes of making the cut to one

day serve as a seeing-eye dog. Only about half make it, and getting used

to different environments and walking on as many diverse things as

possible definitely helps.

“I said, ‘You want different surfaces? We’ve got surfaces,”’ said

Leek, public relations director for the Newport Beach company that offers

chartered cruises on its three luxury yachts. “We’ve got wood surfaces,

docks, metal stairs, wood stairs, carpeted stairs -- a floating training

ground.”

On Leek’s invitation, Hofstetter began making trips to Newport Beach

to take Jamison along the docks and to walk around on the yachts Dream

Maker, Dream On and Just Dreamin’.

“It’s excellent experience,” Hofstetter said. “The less likely they

are to spook, the better they will be to help a blind person. A disabled

person wants as normal a life as possible. So if the dog is comfortable

on and around boats, that’s just another thing a blind person can enjoy

as a result.”

And, Leek interjected, “It’s like we always say: Boats are for

everyone, not just for a chosen few.”