South Dakota Governor Noem dogged by the media
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has received a lot of very negative coverage in the press. It had nothing to do with politics – or the prospect of her becoming President Trump’s running mate (which may no longer be an option).
What has caused the wave of bad press is the fact that she – to put it bluntly — shot her dog. She obviously did not consider it a terrible thing to do — considering all the facts — since she described it in detail in her upcoming book.
(I have to admit – even as a person whose kids have had cats, dogs, mating gerbils [and that means lots of gerbils], snakes, turtles, one of those things that looks like a miniature dinosaur, and even a rescued injured seagull it is repugnant to my nature to kill any animal. I do not even hunt. (Unfortunately, in an unguarded moment, one of the dogs killed the seagull. But I digress.)
According to Noem, the dog in question was a bad and dangerous dog – a biter and a killer. She got the dog from a family who were themselves more than a little concerned about the canine’s aggressive behavior.
Noem gave training a good try, but the dog remained vicious. (Perhaps a bit like President Biden’s dog, Commander, who was last reported to be in solitary confinement after biting 24 White House staffers and Secret Service agents. Biden was smart enough not to shoot Commander.)
Out of concern for her children, neighbors and the mail person, Noem decided that the dog had committed one canine capital crime too many. And this is where their story gets interesting. She did what a lot of animal owners have done in the past – especially country and farm folk and especially with dangerous pets. They take the situation into their own hands. Well actually, they take a gun in their own hands and do what has to be done … personally. That is where you can feel the collective cringe of dog owners across America.
The thought – the imagery – of a person actually shooting their own dog for any reason is repugnant to the soul of most dog owners. There is a bit of hypocrisy among many of them, however. Scores of dog owners have “put down” their precious pets – a euphemistic term for having someone else kill them. They do it because the dog is sick, old or vicious.
Had Noem taken her dog to the local veterinarian, there would have not been a problem. It would not even have made the local news in some remote town in South Dakota. But she actually handled the matter herself.
Most animal owners approve of killing their pets – as long as they do not have to do it themselves. What has made the Noem story so horrific is that she DID do it herself. There is nothing illegal or particularly wrong with what she did given the circumstances. It is about the optics and the political spin-ability of the subject. And perhaps Noem should have understood that before she reached for a gun instead of the local veterinarian’s phone number.
Whether right or wrong, the story is part of Noem’s political legacy – it will dog her forever.
So, there ‘tis.
That is indeed a rule. It is your dog, you put him down. You don’t put that responsibility on anyone else, nobody can relieve you of it. If the dog must be put down, it deserves to be put down by the person that cared for it. A gunshot is the most humane way to do it, it is instantaneous, the dog does not suffer.
Why is this important? How many politicians have sent soldiers to die in war, or have ordered executions, or other (perhaps necessary) orders that can cost lives, without being willing to take responsibility for the decision? without personal contact with any of those affected? This is cowardice in the extreme. Noem has demonstrated both courage and integrity in my book,
Well, Horist, I was a hunter in my youth but quit after a few years in NJ —- don’t like shotguns for bigger game and the birds are released and too tame for me for sport. But we raised rescue horses and I had a bad horse once. It could not be trusted. Probably part my fault, the horse was caught in a move at a tender age followed by a lack of attention due to new place, new job, etc. Part my fault, part the horse’s basic nature.
I spent a lot of time and money to find someone with the skills and time to handle it. First, I sent it to training where further abuse happened because they were scared. Caught it quick, but did not make matters better. Then a really good trainer who cured the horse, but once home, the cure did not stick. The horse needed a lot of attention to make the training stick. We could not provide that.
So we spent more time, more money, to give this thoroughbred away, for free, to a great home with a kid who would ride every day. We could have put the horse down, no issues.
That’s what Noem should have done. She took the easy way out.
What the hell gives you the right to second guess Noem? Dogs and horses are not the same you idiot. You are always chiming in on shit that you know nothing about.
Archie; you dog you. I have every right to comment once the dumb bitch put it in a book to look cool. Screwed the pooch on that one, pun intended.
Even though a cat person; i’ve had a few dogs in my life. Mostly labs. Black, brown, yellow, got them to match the current truck. One trained for professional retrieving. She was a joy to watch. I trained all except the retrieval pro was professionally trained for that. .
One dog at a time, many cats, all rescues. That’s our thing. One was apartment rescue, stairs were novel.
I never would never put a dog or cat down for disposition until I would exhaust every alternative. You saw what I did for the horse and it was a handful. Never even came close. Had another horse got tangled in wire, tendon damage, vet said put her down, we didn’t, NJ winter’s peak and up at sub freezing temps at 4am to change dressings. She never ran again, but lived long and prospered.
Nope, we go to extremes to save our pets or even strays who happen by.
Ok. Let’s try that for unborn babies.
GMAFB!
Did you not read the article?
I am sorry but all of those up in arms about this story need to spend 1 year in rural America immersed in that life without their Starbucks, without their car wash, with a rabid dog just hanging around the farm where, at the end of the day you are physically exhausted from the actual hard work…. While I love animals, the circumstances associated with this account are such that her shooting the dog is completely justified! All you “city folks” need to lighten up. I am sure for her it was not something she relished in. I am sure it was simply “matter of fact”.
i agree with you. living in the country is a lot different than living in the city. putting down any animal is heart breaking. but when a dog goes rabid or any other animal…it is the only humane thing to do. If she hadn;t put this dog down knowing that it could possibly hurt anyone let a lone a child. what would these nay sayers say IF a child got hurt or killed because of her inaction………….yea….I can just see the headlines now. cruel and unfeeling. the media would want her head on a platter. walk in her shoes while she is working on a farm. see what goes on then speak up until then…………….well when your animal is sick and you take him to the vet to be put down…some one should call you out because of it.
MJB: I’m not “city folk,” and while they call this rural NJ: I call it exurbia. I do understand, but have always found a better alternative and I certainly wouldn’t put it in a book.
“‘Commander, say hello to Cricket for me.’” I am sorry, but this is not a shining example of rural life. This is just one mean bitch.
Had a Weimaraner as a boy and this dog LOVED kids but was brutal on strangers walking on property. Dog was really high strung when it came to family protection. Left in kennel once, they moved it to horse stall because it was eating the cage and it almost ate through two inches of oak in two days to get back home. Gas guys wouldn’t pump with dog at glass of window thinking it was coming through. Passerby rang door bell, turned around to show us chunk of pants/ass missing for walking down apron.
We managed it and dog lived a very long life.
So that’s what we do. Shovel money in when pets are hurt, keep them going when even the experts say put them down, and search high, low and everywhere in between to find any alternative to put them down for misbehaving. A one year plus old pup —- no way would I give up. And yeah, I judge poorly anyone who does. She wants to put Commander down. That’s more bullshit crap than anything I am saying. That’s a hell of a lot more judging than what I am doing.
FYI: this dog did hunt. Used to team up with neighbor’s dog, one would run a perimeter circle and the other would enter the circle to scare up some kill. It was amazing to watch the pack hunting technique. But was scared of guns for some reason.
MJB you can’t reason with liberals. They think that dangerous people and animals should be turned loose on society. Dangerous animals and dangerous people should be shot if no other alternative is available. It’s not a perfect world where people leave a child in the care of a collie. The kid would do a lot of falling down a well. Or whatever.
Really Jim. Drugged up this early in the morning? You are garbling your gibberish. Happy weekend to you, but watch out for that overdose of generalizing, stereotyping, and stupidity, Of course you can’t reason with liberals. You are unreasonable.to begin with.
When is a man like a dog. Always according to the Wampler who says:
“Dangerous animals and dangerous people should be shot if no other alternative is available.” Of course, he’s judge, jury and executioner. As such, he must be dangerous. I see no other alternative available.
So you are equating animals with people? If you were on a sinking boat and you could save your dog or a stranger’s child, which one would you pick?
No Joe, Wampler did. I just quoted him. Sure thought it was clear enough…..
As to your question: I am going to go with “all of the above.” HAGWE.
Of course your question has nothing to do with the story or the comments. There was no choice between man or beast, or even beast. The choice was try-to-fix or fix it by getting rid of it. With a one-year old dog, there is NO WAY I would quit trying ….yet…. That’s just the easy way out. Now, each to their own, I doubt there’s SD laws broken here, but that’s what I think, and that’s what I have done over the years. Put a few down too, but with shots, and only due to age, infirmities, or both. And we have gone well beyond the distance in a number of “saves.” And, at one year old, if I did HAVE to put it down, it would be on me. My fault. No the dog, not God, not just one of those things. It would be on me. And I certainly wouldn’t trumpet that in a freakin book as an achievement.
I find the best way to train a misbehaving dog is to roll up a magazine and give the pup a spank on the rump.
Works for ex-impeached-sex-abusing Presidents too from what I hear.
To bad there was no Magazines to roll up for Biden and Clinton.
Why? Did they have sex with porn stars or digitally rape strangers? I think one was consensual, and the other an allegation only. And then attempt to pay big buck to hush them up to win a Presidential election? What is that, like 10k for every Trump rump thump.
Go suck trump’s dick you ignorant prick. He’s going back to the White House and Joe is going to a rest home. And yes, Clinton and retard joe are guilty. Several women said it. That makes it true. And yes , it’s ok to shoot dangerous people and animals
Do any of your screeds n rants ever come true? It’s a job you grooming for Trump, but have you ever talked anyone into sucking his dick as you seem to like? And since when do you believe anything nobody of interest says? And you say you believe just because they said it… In Bill’s case, it was consensual. In Joe’s case, you have no proof, no court case, just a loon who ran to Russia because a Republican told her to. You guys sure have strange bedfellows yourselves.
Good luck in your endeavors to seize power and kill anyone you feel is “dangerous.” See you in court.
“Dangerous animals and dangerous people should be shot if no other alternative is available. It’s not a perfect world where people leave a child in the care of a collie” says extremist Wampler. And the South forces unwanted babies to be uncared for anyways. Where’s all that new “support” you promised for all those unwanted rape and incest babies?