Kristi Noem says the story demonstrates her willingness to "do what needs to be done." ( lemmy.world )

She decided to kill the 14-month-old dog she was training to hunt birds when it attacked chickens, an understandable mistake for a young dog IMO, and bit her once when she grabbed it's collar (no word on how seriously). She killed a goat by shooting it twice because she didn't like it, calling it mean and smelly. Apparently she's also recently put down 3 horses for unspecified reasons.

She deliberately included it in her new book "to illustrate her willingness, in politics as well as in South Dakota life, to do anything 'difficult, messy and ugly' if it simply needs to be done." When criticized she said, "I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here.”

Sometimes animals do need to be euthanized, but it's rarely a first choice. Animal lovers and those who hunt with dogs have not been kind in their appraisals of the decisions. It's just a meme and maybe I don't need to worry, but her talk about carrying that attitude into politics puts me off.

Finally, Trump is old, unhealthy and there's fears he's showing signs of dementia. So this time VP choice might really matter a few years down the road.

beefbot ,

Yes. What she means to be done is literally murdering innocent citizens and she’s trying to prepare Americans to justify standing around when they start it.

And if you’re reading this and that’s even mildly a surprise, instead of OBVIOUS, then you’re gonna be the one standing around while some Christian tortures me or makes me watch my husband be tortured

jkrtn ,

Maybe I'm just having a hard time imagining someone deranged enough to both kill a pet puppy and also tell the world about it.

But I 100% assume she is dogwhistling to the other Repubs that she will execute their political opponents. She is willing to murder socialists, LGBT people, and so on down their list of "undesirables."

Either that or she is actually deranged enough to kill a puppy for her failure to train it and still believe she is in the right. If that's the case she'd be executing people anyway.

unreasonabro ,

I too have the willingness to do what needs to be done, which is to not vote for Kristi Noem. May her very own God grant that Kristi Noem obtain no further involvement in my life than this, because I really don't like her or the incredibly stupid and violent things she says.

WoahWoah ,

That seems weird to brag about by Noem. No respectable person brags about putting a pup down for politics, but I'll also say this based on the comments here: most of the people on Lemmy definitely didn't grow up on a farm, don't hunt, don't fish, but eat meat.

JamesStallion ,

Most people on this planet today didn't grow up on a farm, don't hunt, don't fish, but eat meat.

WoahWoah , (edited )

I understand that, but Noem did. And the pearl-clutching about this, which for many rural voters might seem a bit off but not worth outcry, serves her purpose about how "we" find "their" lifestyle reprehensible.

In the United States, land votes. Not gonna change many minds doing it this way.

TheJims ,

Republicans will always elect the worst possible candidate. My solidly red district reads like a who’s who of of sleazy shit weasels.

inclementimmigrant , (edited )

Bitch, Ive never had to put down a puppy because it did what i trained it to do and I've trained many a dog for various activities and have put down my fair share due to Old Yeller situations.

The only thing this story tells me, along with the fact that she brags about having to put down three horses a few weeks ago, is that she and her family are really shitty farmers.

Bruncvik ,
@Bruncvik@lemmy.world avatar

This was my first thought. My family has always had dogs, from lap dogs to guard dogs on the farm, ready to attack brown bears, and they've never lashed out against us at that age. The story just illustrates how hopelessly incompetent she is in training her own dog. Imagine anyone so incompetent taking ovet the country if Trump is elected and croaks in the office. She makes Truml look like a "stable genius". Actually, now that I think of it, that may be the plan...

RememberTheApollo_ ,

The lesson here is that she is willing to view life as cheap when she finds it inconvenient.

The hard thing would be to expend the effort to train or re-home animals that are not behaving or not needed. That’s difficult, time consuming, and that’s how care works. Care takes time and effort.

Being destructive is quick, easy, expedites convenience when desired, and thoughtless.

n0m4n ,

Hmmmm, would Trump act worse than an untrained adolescent pup?

assassin_aragorn ,

No, this story demonstrates that Noem is a fucking monster who LITERALLY kills puppies. The only place she should be is in prison for animal abuse.

vaultdweller013 ,
@vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works avatar

Id settle for a ditch being feasted on by ravens.

assassin_aragorn ,

Best I can do is wild dogs for poetic justice

jkrtn ,

This is dogwhistling that she is ready to start executing people. Socialists, LGBT, and so on. She wants people who see SCOTUS deliberating on the presidential immunity to put two and two together. "Elect me and I will execute the dangerous animals."

UpperBroccoli ,

Realizing she probably cared about that dog and goat more than she ever will about you and people like you:

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/pictrs/image/94b86f6c-c716-486b-994d-d21351e65733.jpeg

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

Literally a fascist signalling to other fascists that she will be ride or die for them.

She'll do whatever it takes, including being thrown under the bus when needed.

Sam_Bass ,

So she wont hesitate to euthanise her running mate? Gotcha

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

She's a Republican. I'm amazed that doesn't happen more often.

Kalysta ,

I’m more worried about all the other citizens she would decide to euthanize because she doesn’t like them.

Remember, she’d be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Sam_Bass ,

Just have to make sure her fat orange sugardaddy dont get in

postmateDumbass ,

Turns out in Trump Christian Nation life is not really all that sacred.

Zier ,
@Zier@fedia.io avatar

"pro-life" is like "trickle down economics" it's all a lie.

Urist , (edited )
@Urist@lemmy.ml avatar

I do not really give a shit about this woman, but it is the right decision to put down a dog that acts agressively towards other animals and people. Anyone giving a dog a free pass that they wouldn't give an ugly animal, say a rat, really need to reflect on how they let their objectivity be colored by their feelings towards different entities, animal and human alike.

If your dog behaves like a wild rat, it pretty much is a dog sized rat for all purposes. Even if it is the owner's bad training that started the problems, it is in many cases too late for the dog. Pretty sure anyone VP-ing for Trump has loads of more and better dirt than this.

EDIT: To those downvoting, please explain why this dog's life was more important than the various chickens it slaughtered as mentioned in the article.

GrymEdm OP , (edited )
@GrymEdm@lemmy.world avatar

I can't speak for others, but I'll tell you why I downvoted you.

Right now my parents have two springer spaniels. They are about 7 months old and they've nipped me a few times because they playfight constantly and that's what young dogs do. It's how they explore the world. Most of the time when they're putting my hands in their mouth they're quite gentle, but sometimes they get excited and rough enough to be briefly painful. They are not dangerously aggressive by any reasonable definition and they aren't biting with serious intent. They've never broken/marked skin and when you say Ouch or Stop they calm down and behave. It's the dog equivalent of one kid pushing down another kid in the playground, i.e. they're learning how to play and it's not justification for being shot and killed.

Kristi was training the dog to hunt and kill birds - that's specifically mentioned. She then took this young, partially-trained dog to a farm with chickens without a leash. "Chickens = the birds I'm being told to kill" in the mind of the dog, which makes sense because chickens are birds. Then Kristi grabbed the dog by the collar, and the dog turned around to bite her once. There's no word on how serious the bite was (Kristi makes no mention about having to seek medical attention for instance), and it's not as if the dog kept on attacking her. There's no story about this dog seeking out Kristi, her kids, or any other humans to bite them on any other occasion so labelling the dog as aggressive to humans isn't a reasonable conclusion. She says she "hated the dog", which is already kind of odd and she also talks about hating the goat she shot twice and killed. I don't think most people hate their pets/farm animals even if they reasonably decide they must be put down. Anyways, after that one incident she chose to kill the dog herself. Not attempt to teach it to be calm, not leash train it, not wait for it to grow out of being an adolescent into an calmer adult dog. That summary execution is why animal lovers and people who hunt with dogs are expressing disgust with her decision.

The reason I made a political meme about it is she says she wants to carry that attitude into politics. She's deliberately recording and repeating that story as proof that she's willing to do "difficult, messy, and ugly" things. Given tales like Trump asking troops to kill or at least wound racial justice protesters in Seattle and Portland during his time in office it's an attitude at least worth noting because "difficult, messy, ugly" decisions -may- include stuff like that.

Urist ,
@Urist@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s the dog equivalent of one kid pushing down another kid in the playground, i.e. they’re learning how to play and it’s not justification for being shot and killed.

They are much younger, meaning more malleable, and are also exhibiting different behavioural patterns.

Kristi was training the dog to hunt and kill birds (...)

This is a good point, but unfortunately it is the case that pets often have to suffer the consequences of their owner's insufficient knowledge and experience. She trained a dog for a purpose that requires her to be able to control it, without actually building the relation with the animal to attain this.

There’s no story about this dog seeking out Kristi, her kids, or any other humans to bite them (...)

The owner has a responsibility to prevent this before it happens. If there are early signs and the owner cannot control the dog, they have to find another solution rather than hope for the best on the expense of a child who may be mildly to seriously hurt and develop a lifelong traumatic fear of dogs.

Not attempt to teach it to be calm, not leash train it, not wait for it to grow out of being an adolescent into an calmer adult dog.

She had it for 1.4 years, of course she has attempted (unsuccessfully and probably not extinguishing all options) to rectify its behaviour. The owner's limitations will hurt the dog, but it is right to recognize that their relation should stop. There could potentially be a third solution that included placing it for adoption, but the majority of animal lovers that you mention in the sentence

That summary execution is why animal lovers and people who hunt with dogs are expressing disgust with her decision.

do not really want to adopt a dog that is not still a puppy because it is not "cute enough" and not malleable enough, precisely one of the issues that distinguishes this situation (to my knowledge) from your anecdotal story.

I get that she is probably a shitty person who wants to do wrong things without further justification other than "somebody had to do it and I am such a person". However, I detest anything resembling the infantile moral judgement in the style of Hollywood, where the definite evaluation of good and bad characters are by how they treat a dog. Dogs are not that special.

inclementimmigrant , (edited )

She was literally training this puppy to hunt water fowl. She didn't do the proper job of training her puppy to differentiate between the job of water fowl and chickens and when the time was appropriate, also puppy and still learning.

She's currently trying and failing to train the dog to kill birds correctly and then just let the dog loose among a whole slew of chickens, a pup that's been in training to track and kill birds mind you, loose amongst the chickens. Don't know about you and how much time you've had with dogs but they aren't exactly great with identifying between a duck and a chicken, it's a bird and it's been taught to kill birds.

That's right there is just bad dog ownership there just like I know that when I was raising dogs to help with coyote hunting, you'd better believe that I didn't bring them to the fucking dog park because they were trained to be aggressive around certain types of animals and I'm not that stupid to just let them loose among things that could be mistaken for the thing I helped teach them to hunt. Again, being a good dog owner.

Now instead of owning up to her mistakes as a shitty animal trainer that didn't control her own damn dog, she just shot the damn thing for doing what what she was training it to do and buried it. Again, bad fucking dog ownership.

Urist ,
@Urist@lemmy.ml avatar

Yeah, she sounds like both a crappy dog owner and a bad person in general. Unfortunately, that means the dog has to die unless someone else, with ability to repair the damage caused, is willing to take it on. Would you let your kid anywhere near a dog that had been trained by that woman?

inclementimmigrant ,

I mean I have no idea about your hypothetical because I've never seen her dog, never interacted with her dog, never seen how that dog's overall behavior because I don't know her and she killed her dog because of her own incompetence before anyone could evaluate the dog.

I can tell you this, there are organizations dedicated to re-homing abused and aggressive dogs due to bad owners and they're still up and running so take that how you will.

Seleni ,

Reason for my downvote:

My old boss lived on a farm and had a bird dog. She chased and killed a chicken. He told her ‘no!’, disciplined her, and trained her that killing chickens was wrong. She never killed a chicken again.

For fuck’s sake, it was a puppy, and this was its first offense. Try TRAINING YOUR DOG FIRST.

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

All serial killers started like that, you need to give her a little time.

FunkyMonk ,

Why is the evil stoicism that needs to be done never eating the rich for the republicans? Are they stupid?

BestBouclettes ,

Well yes and also they are the rich

JayObey711 ,

Jonkler reference?

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