Kristi Noem’s team cut dog-killing story from her first book: report

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tried to tell the story of how she shot and killed her dog in her first book released two years ago — but her publishing team edited out the anecdote over fears it would harm her brand.

Noem, 52, has been in the headlines for more than a week since excerpts of the tome, “No Going Back,” detailed how the Republican executed a 14-month wirehaired pointer named Cricket, who Noem wrote that she “hated” because its bad behavior made it “untrainable” as a hunting dog.

Cricket’s story had been included in a draft of Noem’s “Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland,” which was published in 2022, two people involved with that project told Politico.

Then, as now, Noem wanted to include the story because she felt it showed her decisiveness as a leader. However, her team at Hachette Book Group’s prestige Twelve imprint warned against it.

A gaggle of agents, editors, publicists and even the governor’s own ghostwriter all agreed the tale was in bad taste and would give her a bad name.

While the Cricket saga was cut from “Not My First Rodeo,” Noem worked with a different team at Hachette’s conservative-leaning Center Street imprint for “No Going Back,” which hit shelves Tuesday.

The dog controversy, which has caused bipartisan outrage and all but ended Noem’s chances of being Donald Trump’s running mate, has forced the governor to do damage control. 

“If you read the book, you will see this was something that happened 20 years ago, and this book is filled with vulnerable stories, painful decisions that I’ve had,” Noem told NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” Monday evening. “And at that point in time, I had a decision between the protection of my children and the people that were in our lives and a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people.

“And what I want people to know when they read that story is to understand that this has been a story that my political opponents have tried to use against me for years,” she added. “I wanted them to know the truth. I wanted them to hear it in my words that listen, most politicians would run from the truth. And they would run from making hard decisions. I don’t do either of those. I wanted people to know the truth. And I want them to know that I didn’t pass my responsibility on to somebody else.”