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South Dakota governor, a potential Trump running mate, writes in new book about killing her dog (apnews.com)

submitted 6 months ago by pro_grammer@programming.dev to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20120801

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 America Forward.” In it, she tells the story of the ill-fated Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer she was training for pheasant hunting.

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.

“At that moment,” Noem writes, “I realized I had to put her down.” She led Cricket to a gravel pit and killed her.

She writes, according to the Guardian, that the tale was included to show her willingness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if it has to be done. But backlash was swift against the Republican governor, who just a month ago drew attention and criticism for posting an infomercial-like video about cosmetic dental surgery she received out-of-state.

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[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So, sad story time. We had a pup going on 15 who had health problems, most notably a bum knee that she just wouldn't trust to rehab after surgery when she was 3. For the next ten years, she managed fine, but eventually she was clearly on the downward trend. She was maybe even ready, but I didn't quite think so. Then we found out we had to move. For the briefest moment, I thought it would be easier not to take her with us, but after recoiling that I'd have the thought, I decided I wouldn't make that decision in the middle of a bunch of other stress, and she was a good dog who deserved a thoughtful End of Life thought process.

A couple months after we were all settled and she had her spot in the living room, it became clear that it wasn't just stressed humans. She was clearly declining, and it was time after all. We took her in to the new vet we'd identified, and let them know, but because she hadn't had a checkup with them, and they didn't know us well, they made us do a three day waiting period and asked for our old vet to get a reference that we were responsible pet owners. Then they asked for a full external exam beforehand. They made us jump through hoops, and I for one completely understood, because they didn't know us from Adam and as far as they were concerned we might just be sickos or thieves who make vets kill dogs for the hell of it. We went through it all, and I watched her gently slip away through my teary eyes.

A good vet won't put a healthy pup down for no reason, and being a bad hunting dog who goes after chickens probably wouldn't have been anywhere near a good enough reason. We all face tough decisions. Noem just sounds like the type who has no respect for lives she's entrusted with, only what they can do for her.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

That's incredibly sad and, damn, I'm trying to keep it together reading you. Part of me thinks it's a blessing to be in a country where non-human life is respected to a reasonable degree. I wrote that thinking about the time a dog bit someone I know when they were a kid and the dog was ordered to be put down by a judge. Apparently that was the rule for any animal that attacked people back then in my country. I don't know if things have changed nationwide but I do know that you can get 2-5 years in jail here in my city for harming animals now, so progress?

I'm sorry about your lovely dog. It must've been awful and I can't even imagine losing my own pets because I crumble at the thought. My sincere condolences.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Thank you. It was sad, but the two mantras I have about this are “long life, good life,” and “the only alternative to losing them is never having them.” Life happens. It’s okay.

I’ve lost a few animals over the years and personally put down a wild bird too injured to survive (which still haunts me even though I am convinced it was the right thing to do) so my main point was that Noem is a special kind of callous and that vets wouldn’t immediately put down a young bird-dog that got confused about the exact form of hunting it was expected to be part of.