South Dakota Animal Rescue: Sorry Kristi Noem, There Are No ‘Untrainable’ Dogs

An animal shelter in South Dakota is rebuffing the idea that there’s such a thing as an “untrainable” dog as Republican Gov. Kristi Noem defends a years-old decision to shoot her 14-month-old puppy over its poor behavior.

The governor was widely viewed as a frontrunner in Donald Trump’s vice presidential sweepstakes—until Friday, when The Guardian published excerpts from her forthcoming biography, including grisly details about killing animals on her farm, including the puppy, a female wirehaired pointer named Cricket.

In her book, Noem reportedly writes that Cricket was “untrainable,” “aggressive,” and “less than worthless” as a hunting dog. She recalls dragging Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her in front of a stricken construction crew after becoming fed up with the dog, who had ruined a hunting trip, killed chickens, and bit her.

Paws Animal Rescue, a shelter based in the capital city of Pierre, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that it had been “flooded with messages” regarding Noem’s anecdote. Though it declined to comment on the governor’s situation, the rescue said its team felt compelled to say something about “untrainable dogs” more generally.

“We haven’t met one yet,” the shelter said. “In all our years in animal rescue and the thousands of animals that have come through our door, we have yet to meet a dog that was so untrainable it deserved to be shot to death.”

The organization said that its volunteer-run team had encountered all kinds of dogs exhibiting problematic behavior, and in every instance worked to “teach them manners” and find them the right homes.

“Is euthanasia sometimes necessary? In certain situations, yes,” the rescue said. “When an animal is so sick that [its] quality of life is inhumane, then humane euthanasia may be the answer. When an animal has been so badly damaged by people or circumstances that it has demons it cannot overcome, sometimes maybe then too.

“When a 14-month-old puppy (who was almost certainly bought from a breeder at 8 weeks and had every opportunity to be taught the right way to behave), absolutely not,” it added.

After it was made public, Noem’s anecdote about Cricket sparked outrage and widespread criticism online, with users questioning why she hadn’t returned the dog to its breeder or surrendered it to a shelter. The Guardian, which obtained a copy of Noem’s book, did not specify if she names Cricket’s breeder in it, and their identity remained unclear on Sunday. But there are more than 60 animal shelters and welfare organizations in South Dakota, according to nonprofit tracker Cause IQ.

Paws Animal Rescue did not immediately return a request for further comment on Sunday night. Their post included a link for donations that would be set aside “specifically for the training and rehabilitation of dogs that come into our care that are ‘untrainable.’”

Noem, 52, on Sunday doubled down on the decision to kill Cricket. Though she said she understood why “some people” might have been “upset” by the anecdote, the governor tweeted that she was “being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.”

She continued, “The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did.”