By now it is common knowledge that Kristie Noem shot her unruly 14 month old dog rather than find it another home.
Her explanation for no longer wanting the dog was reasonable as shelters and the yards of friends whose hearts are too big are filled with dogs no longer wanted. It was a safety issue with no options to address it because at,

“At the time, I had small children, a lot of small kiddos that worked around our business and people, and I wanted to make sure that they were safe. I hated that dog.”

Her hatred was understandable. Since you pick the dog and there is a fifty/fifty chance to picked a good future dog or an albatross that will be hung around you neck for the next 15 years barring an accident, you cannot curse what nature laid on you but must bear some guilt-laden regret about how your choice ended up while, perhaps, seeing what could have been the one you chose serving your neighbor as yours will never do you.

That’s gotta hurt.

But, beyond thinking it was somehow a good move to record forever that this hatred led her to shoot Cricket, her dog- not Rex, or Killer, but Cricket- in a gravel pit while her daughter sat in the truck and watched her walk away and, after a bang, return without the dog and then, apparently finding it a good place for executions, came back with a goat and after shooting it twice with a shot gun went to her truck, daughterless this time, to get additional shells as the first two shots did not finish off the goat that waited in pain while she made the round trip to get the ammo to do it.

When people reacted to this, especially as she could have given the dog away, Noem attempted to soften the degree of her cruelty, in part attempting to get on lookers to the story to lessen their anger by accepting some degree of guilt for over reacting, by pointing out that, while the public has made it seem worse that it actually was by using the word “puppy” it was a “working dog” and was 14 months old, apparently having gone beyond the official length of puppy-hood during which time she could have reduced Crickets unruliness with training.

So, had it been an official puppy, people would be justified in their horror, but it was a dog already at the time, so it’s not as bad.
In light of her original excuse, “At the time, I had small children, a lot of small kiddos that worked around our business”, those kiddos may need to assess their situation as they approach puberty.

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