Visitors can pick up a dog at a humane society shelter to spend time with them for a day.

It’s a Hawaii activity that gives back. On Maui, Hawaii Island, Kauai and Oahu, visitors can invite a dog out for the day from a shelter and take the pup with them to the beach, on a hike or out to lunch at a dog-friendly restaurant.

The doggy day trips get the animals out of the kennels to socialize, which benefits the dog, even more so considering that Hawaii’s humane society shelters are over capacity.

On Oahu, the Hawaiian Humane Society has capacity for 750 to 850 animals but currently it has over 1,000 animals in its care. Animals are being surrendered in record numbers — an average of 40 animals admitted per day — and the shelter is having to resort to emergency temporary housing.

“It’s crates and kennels. I mean, that is 100% not ideal,” Brandy Shimabukuro, manager of communications for the Hawaiian Humane Society, told SFGATE. “We opened up our second campus, which was the largest single expansion in Hawaii Humane’s history in May of 2023 and we filled up almost every kennel very, very quickly.”

The Hawaiian Humane Society on Oahu recently started its Ilio Explorers program, which allows visitors to take a dog out of the shelter for the day.

The Oahu shelter just launched its Ilio Explorers (ilio is the Hawaiian word for dog) program, a field trip program for the shelter dogs. “If you’re a visitor to the Islands, here’s a way for you to give back in a way that’s really meaningful, because it’s more than just a fun day out exploring dog-friendly locations, hiking trails and beaches,” Shimabukuro said. “It’s a way for you to get a dog that would otherwise be languishing in a........

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