Article updated November 2022 to reflect changes in approved locations.

Ask my daughter what her favorite part of any trip to Kauai and she’ll answer with no hesitation, “Adopting the dogs for the day.” The Kauai Humane Society has a program that allows you to take a dog out on a field trip. We had so much fun we did it twice.

If you are a visitor and adopting a dog for the day, you should have a game plan ahead of time. Our rental agreement prohibited us from bringing the dog back to the house. This meant that we needed to plan a 5-6 hour day of adventures. The good thing is that the Kauai Humane Society provides you with a list of dog-approved locations on the island.

• Moalepe/Kuilau Trail

• Loop Road/Wailua Arboretum

• Kapaa Coastal Path

• Secrets Beach — please be cautious of local sea birds nesting near the hiking trail and be careful of the hike down after rains

• Mahaulepu Beach — please be cautious of local sea birds nesting nearby

• Kalapaki Beach

• Paths around the golf course behind Marriott Lihue

• Kukuiolono Golf Course Path

• Sleeping Giant Trail

County beaches do not allow dogs. For our first adventure with Raja, we went up to Kekaha Beach (which is no longer allowed). We stopped at The Shrimp Station in Waimea to pick up a lunch picnic. We should have stayed up West longer, but I knew that my husband would be finishing up work soon and he wanted to have some dog time. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain on the South Shore, and that made it hard to continue onto Mahaulepu Beach which is accessible by dirt road.

The next time we waited until the weekend so the whole family could enjoy the experience. This time we ended up with Cami. She was another super sweet dog who was happy to be out and about. The only disappointing part of our adventures was neither dog liked the ocean. We did our best to try and introduce it to Raja and Cami, but they wanted no part of it. The good news is that both dogs were adopted soon after our day out.

We didn’t want our dogs back at home to feel like we had forgotten them. Some of our favorite pet souvenirs we brought home included new collars from Tikidawg, treats from Barkaroo Bakery, and a cute bandana for a furry friend.

Taking the dogs out for the day really helped our kids adjust to the time away from their dogs at home. We definitely plan to do it again, either on Kauai, or Maui, or Hawaii Island.