South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who has been considered a presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s potential running mate — spoke Sunday about the recent attention to her new book in which she writes about the killing of an unruly dog and a goat.
The Guardian obtained a copy of Noem’s soon-to-be-released book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move American Forward.” Noem is scheduled to be interviewed on “Face the Nation” next week about her upcoming book, which is scheduled for release May 7.
In it, she tells the story of the unfortunate Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer that she was training for pheasant hunting.
Jack Dura / AP
She writes, according to the Guardian, that the story was included to show her willingness to do something “difficult, messy and ugly” if it had to be done. Backlash was swift against the Republican governor and on Sunday she addressed the issue on social media.
“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story about Cricket, one of our ranch’s working dogs, in my upcoming book – No Going Back,” she said. wrote in an article on, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “The book is filled with many honest stories from my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions and lessons learned.”
In her book, Noem writes that she took Cricket on a hunting trip with older dogs in hopes of calming the wild pup. Instead, Cricket chased the pheasants while “having the time of his life.”
On the way home from the hunting trip, Noem writes that she stopped to talk to a family. Cricket got out of Noem’s truck and attacked and killed some of the family’s chickens, then bit the governor.
On Sunday, she defended her decision to kill the dog, saying “South Dakota law says dogs that attack and kill livestock can be put down.”
“Since Cricket had been showing aggressive behavior towards people by biting them, I decided what I would do,” Noem wrote. “Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never handed over my responsibilities to anyone else. Even though it is hard and painful. I followed the law and was a parent , a dog owner and a responsible neighbor.”
In the book, Noem also writes that her family also had a “mean, nasty” goat who smelled bad and liked to chase her children. She decided to go ahead and kill the goat too. She writes that the goat survived the first shot, so she returned to the truck, retrieved another shell, then shot him again, killing him.
The clips immediately sparked criticism on social media, where many posted photos of their own pets. President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign surfaced on social media, alongside a photo of Noem with Trump.
This isn’t the first time Noem has attracted national attention.
A month ago, when she posted a infomercial-style video about cosmetic dental surgery she received out of state.
In a nearly five-minute video on X, she praised a team of Texas cosmetic dentists for giving her a smile she said she could be proud of. “I love my new family at Smile Texas!” she wrote.
In 2019, she supported the state’s anti-meth campaign even as it became the subject of some mockery for the slogan “Meth. Here we are.” Noem said the campaign got people talking about the meth epidemic and helped some get treatment.
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