Many were disgusted when they found out that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem had killed a puppy. On April 28, Noem took to X to defend her actions. Noem wrote about the decision to kill her dog, Cricket, in her book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, which will be released in May. The Guardian received a review copy and shared some of the details.
In the book, she described Cricket as a "wirehair pointer, about 14 months old" with an "aggressive personality," reported The Guardian.
In the book, Noem reportedly wrote about different attempts to control her puppy's behavior. However, she failed to control her puppy when taking her on a pheasant hunt. Cricket reportedly got too excited on the hunt. She said the dog also attacked chickens that belonged to another family.
When Cricket killed the chickens, Noem wrote that she "realized [she] had to put her down."
She also wrote that she "hated" the dog and that the dog was "untrainable." According to The Guardian, Noem got a gun out and took her puppy to a gravel pit. In her book, she also wrote about killing a goat that belonged to her family.
Many were shocked and disgusted when they learned about how Noem dealt with the situation, with some writing that there were other options, such as training the dog or taking the dog to a shelter.
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In response to the backlash, Noem wrote, "I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned."
In the same post on X, she wrote that she made the decision based on Cricket's "aggressive behavior" and added that she "followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor."
She was considered to be a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump for the 2024 election, but The Guardian recently reported that a source says she won't be picked now after she defended her decision to kill her puppy.
