FACT-CHECK: Did Kristi Noem Really Shoot Her “Worthless Dog”?

Time for a Fact-Check!

I saw this going viral online today and I had to stop and check it out.

Here’s the claim:

'I hated that dog': Kristi Noem recalls gunning down family's 'worthless' pup – Raw Story https://t.co/TBnaqqLIp2

— ⚠️ TITLE ⚠️ (@habilis123) April 26, 2024

Ok, so did she really “gun down her family’s worthless pup”?

Yes, but not exactly how you might think if you simply read that headline.

The claim comes straight out of her memoir, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, adding that the 14-month-old wirehair pointer was “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.

“[Cricket] grabbed one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another,” she wrote, comparing the dog to “a trained assassin.”

“[She] whipped around to bite me,” Noem wrote, adding that Cricket was “the picture of pure joy” throughout the incident.

“At that moment,” Noem wrote, “I realized I had to put her down.”

Noem said she retrieved her gun and led Cricket to a gravel pit.

“It was not a pleasant job,” she writes, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”

She then recounts how she killed one of her family’s goats, a “nasty and mean” male that had not been castrated, by dragging him to the gravel pit, and afterward she realized a nearby construction crew had watched her slaughter both animals before her children were dropped off by a school bus.

“Kennedy looked around confused,” Noem wrote, describing her daughter’s reaction. “’Hey, where’s Cricket?’”

Grok explains more:

Yes, Kristi Noem claimed that she shot her dog, Cricket, and explained her actions in an excerpt from her upcoming book. According to the information provided, Noem described the dog as “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with,” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.” She recounted how she made the decision to put Cricket down by shooting her in a gravel pit after an incident in which the dog attacked a local family’s chickens and bit her. Noem defended her actions as part of farm life’s harsh realities, despite the controversy it has sparked online.

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So…did she shoot the dog?

Yes, by her own writings.

But was it some peaceful golden retriever that she just unloaded a clip into?

Hardly.

But that’s the image the Legacy Media hopes you have in your head.

Share this report to share the TRUTH.

Speaking of Noem, she’s still in the running for Trump’s VP, which is likely why this story surfaced — to make her look bad.

I want to know who your top choice is for Trump’s new VP:

NATIONAL POLL: Who Is Your Top Choice For Trump’s VP?