She killed her puppy and is now hated: Here is her response: Kristi Noem says...

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. What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges. My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life. The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did. Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way. – Kristi Noem Tweet

The problem that you have is that there are 49 other states who don’t shoot their dogs and your instincts as a leader didn’t take that into consideration. You should have learned that lesson when Romney received heavy pushback for putting his dog on the roof of his car for a family vacation. With the turmoil our country and the world is in right now, attention to the details could be the life or death of our country. – Wendy Patterson
Stop trying to justify shooting a puppy in the face, psychopath. – Jenna Ellis
One cool thing about not killing a pet, is that you don’t have to explain that time when you killed a pet. – John Collins