Politicians and dog experts are criticizing South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem after she wrote in a new book about killing a rambunctious puppy. The story — and the vilification she received on social media — has some wondering whether she’s still a viable potential running mate for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Experts who work with hunting dogs like Noem’s said she should have trained — not killed — the pup, or found other options if the dog was out of control.
Noem has tried to reframe the story from two decades ago as an example of her willingness to make tough decisions. She wrote on social media that the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket had shown aggressive behavior by biting.
“As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy,” she said on X. “But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”
Still, Democrats and even some conservatives have been critical.
You’d have a point if she was raising dogs for slaughter, but there’s an extra layer of sociopathy to kill a nonhuman member of your own family.
What I’ve seen poking around other places is that it would be viewed as, if nothing else, “a waste of an animal.” She went straight from “training is going poorly” to “this thing, which by the way my children have named and expect to live another decade or more, has to die, now, by my hand, in sight of people who had no choice but to be there, and regardless of whatever utility the dog still has to my household or the world.” Throw in the emotional bond that so readily forms between people and companion animals, even “working” ones, and it’s doubly disturbing.
There are legitimate moral arguments about eating meat, and if that’s acceptable then about how the animals are treated while alive (full disclosure, I eat meat), but take your wins where you can get them: everybody agrees Kristi Noem is fucked up. Even dog-hating Trump, who has a serious “suburban mom” problem to mitigate, will probably have to reluctantly move on.