Kristi Noem doubles-down over dog killing saying she was being ‘responsible’

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is doubling down on her decision to kill her 14-month-old dog, saying she “followed the law” and was “being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.”

Over the weekend, Ms Noem faced intense scrutiny for openly admitting to shooting her defiant dog, Cricket, years ago after it attacked somebody’s chickens and was difficult to train as a hunting dog. The story, which was first revealed in The Guardian, is included in Ms Noem’s new book.

After the story went viral, Ms Noem told followers on X that “tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm” before plugging her book.

But criticism has not let up and now Ms Noem is doubling down on her decision.

“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,” Ms Noem wrote on Sunday.

She continued: “The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown some aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did.”

In her book, Ms Noem says she chose to shoot Cricket, a wirehaired pointer because it was being aggressive and rowdy while on a pheasant hunt. Ms Noem said that she was returning home from the hunt and stopped to talk with some locals when the puppy got out of the truck and attacked the chickens on the locals’ farm.

The governor said she “hated that dog” and chose to take it to a gavel pit and shoot it, believing it to be untrainable and dangerous.

The South Dakota governor then pivoted, using the story to explain how she has taken responsibility, even when it’s “hard and painful”, in her political career.

Ms Noem is on the list of potential vice