Vacationers Erin and Eric Storm shared a beach day on Maui with a new friend who returned the favor with licks and tail wags.

The Storms, semiretired property managers from Clovis, Calif., spent Wednesday morning with Kula, an 8-year-old mastiff mix from the Maui Humane Society, followed by a picnic at a park in Kihei.

“He’s a true gentleman,” said Erin Storm. “He just wanted to say hello to everybody that we met. We got him to go into the water a little bit, but he was more interested in walking around and meeting people.”

Through the Maui Humane Society’s Beach Buddies program launched last spring, visitors and residents can take a shelter dog to the beach or other destination for the day. The Kauai Humane Society has a similar program, which has been in place for three years, that allows visitors to check out a shelter dog for a day trip to one of the island’s dog-friendly beaches or hiking trails at no cost.

With a small pool of potential pet owners and limited facility space, the animal shelters on Kauai and Maui had to get creative in marketing their adoptable animals. Both organizations also have transfer programs that send animals to partner shelters on the mainland where they have a better chance of being adopted.

The Storms, who are regular visitors to Maui, have a golden retriever named Nova at home.

“We’ve done a lot of the touristy things, so it was fun just hanging out with a dog here on Maui,” said Erin Storm. “It kind of made us feel like we were back home.”

They bonded quickly with Kula, who hopped into their rental car with no hesitation. They said they were tempted to take him home and are already planning to check out another dog on their next trip to Maui.

Neither the Hawaiian Humane Society on Oahu, which took in more than 23,000 animals last year, nor the Hawaii Island Humane Society, which takes in more than 15,000 animals a year, offers a similar program.

Penny Cistaro, executive director of the Kauai Humane Society, said the “field tripper” program has proved popular among visitors who want canine companionship while enjoying the outdoors. At the same time, the dogs, which wear “Adopt Me” vests on their outings, get more visibility in the community.

“People come in because they miss their dog,” she said. “For us it keeps the dogs healthy, exercised and stimulated. They get out of the kennel.”

More than five dogs a day are checked out for field trips from the Kauai shelter, which generally has 40 to 50 dogs available for adoption on any given day. Every so often, according to Cistaro, one of the field trippers will bond with the dog and decide to take it home. On average, four dogs a month are adopted by visitors.

During her one-week vacation on Kauai in November, Liz Mae Zeigler of Los Angeles enjoyed a day at the beach with Jake, a 1-year-old hound and pointer mix.

“He was very easy to fall in love with, that’s for sure,” she said. “He’s very, very sweet.”

While Zeigler, owner of a dog-grooming business in Los Angeles, did not adopt Jake, she tracked his progress on Facebook and put in a good word for him, calling him “sweet and affectionate.” She was happy to learn that Jake was eventually adopted by a local family.

On Maui a mix of visitors and locals have taken part in the Beach Buddies program. Upon checkout, dogs come with a leash and harness, a water bowl, treats, poop bags, a towel and a map of dog-friendly parks and beaches.

Maui Humane Society CEO Jerleen Bryant said the agency gets more requests for Beach Buddies than dogs available for the program.

“It has been wonderful,” she said. “The staff loves the program because they see how beneficial it has been for our animals. The vacationers love the program.”

Participants are asked to document their day in photos and videos, which are then posted on social media sites to showcase the canines.

The dog-for-a-day programs go hand in hand with efforts to transfer isle animals to shelters on the mainland.

Dogs that go out on Beach Buddies are often the sames ones chosen for the Maui Humane Society’s Wings of Aloha program, which asks for volunteer escorts to accompany animals to mainland shelters that have space and are willing to take them, Bryant said.

The Maui shelter receives about 8,000 animals a year and can’t find enough homes locally, she said.

“That’s where our partners with rescue organizations and shelters on the mainland come in,” Bryant said. “A lot of steps are involved, but ultimately they choose to receive animals from our shelter.”

The Kauai Humane Society has an average intake of 5,000 animals per year. Its Aloha Escorts program also transfers pets — more than 400 last year — to partner shelters on the mainland.

“That has really enabled us to maximize the number of animals we can get out of here,” she said.

Volunteers escort the dogs on nonstop flights from Lihue to San Diego, Oakland, Portland or Seattle on Alaska Airlines at no cost to the traveler.

The Maui Humane Society has flown more than 300 dogs to partner shelters in Oregon and Washington, according to Bryant, where they in turn get adopted out to families.

“It saves the life of the animal and creates space here for other animals,” she said. “We are getting creative. We’re leaving no stone unturned when it comes to saving the lives of animals. We are doing everything we possibly can.”

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ON THE NET:

For more information on the Kauai Humane Society’s field trip program, visit bit.ly/1ZL2JyC. Contact the Maui Humane Society’s Beach Buddies program via email at volunteer@mauihumanesociety.org or visit bit.ly/1QmiBln.