Kristie Noem Shoots her Dog and Herself (in the foot)

Unless you live in the Outer Hebrides or have been in a health or work-induced coma, there’s no way you could have missed the brouhaha and public outrage over South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s admitted shooting of her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket.

Nothing unifies people of different opinions and persuasions than animals, especially dogs. There are more photos of dogs on peoples’ desks than there are of humans. And if you’re in a client meeting, there is nothing that breaks the ice in a conference room or Zoom call than when someone starts talking about their dog. The next thing you know, people are breaking out their phones and sharing pictures of Bella and Max.

So when the UK media publication, The Guardian, obtained an advance copy of Noem’s latest book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward”, and published a detailed excerpt from the book where she describes her shooting her German Wirehaired Pointer puppy, Cricket, in a gravel pit, that ignited a firestorm that the governor has yet to put out.

According to Noem: “I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket had proved herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.

After an unsuccessful hunt, Noem, returning home, stopped at a neighbor. The dog somehow got loose from the truck and attacked several of the neighbor’s chickens, killing them. “At that moment,” Noem says, “I realised I had to put her down.”

For anyone familiar with hunting dogs, or gun dogs as they’re known in Europe, 14 months is still considered “puppy” stage for this type of dog. Originally bred in Germany specifically for hunting, German Wirehaired Pointers are well known and respected for their keen sense of smell, high energy and high prey drive.

Noem took the dog to a gravel pit and shot it in the face. She then writes that she took a goat she also didn’t like to the same gravel pit and killed it as well, only the goat took two shots.

Since The Guardian’s article, social and mainstream media has exploded with coverage of this story. Dog trainers, owners, behaviorists, pundits, publicists, average Joes and Janes alike have weighed in on this incident echoing their utter disgust and revulsion for how Noem handled her unruly puppy.

Noem, in response, is now trying to quell the firestorm of her own making, whether on X (f.k.a. Twitter) or on national television, “Hannity” by trying to provide more color and context to the story. However, the firestorm is unabated because we have Noem’s own words as to what happened. What’s more, she’s now dragging Donald Trump into the fray, by posting his endorsement of her book. Big mistake. Huge.

Donald Trump, to my knowledge, has never owned a dog. His choice. And I highly doubt that he read Noem’s book. His endorsement may have resulted from a campaign/PR agency’s recommendation, and they probably also didn’t read the book. Shame on them.

So where does this leave us?

Noem’s VP hopes have cratered, and probably the rest of her political career, at this point. Inclusion of that story in her book shows there’s a chasm between dog owners who love their dogs and treat them as family versus dog owners like Kristi Noem who treat them as mere commodities.

If Noem thought she could impress Trump by proving she can make tough decisions, then she badly miscalculated. According to former White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, “He [Trump] won’t suffer idiots and fools.”

Kristi Noem would be better off if she went radio silent. The damage is done.