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Kristi Noem sparks concern after posing with new hunting dog: ‘PLEASE DON’T KILL HIM’

A photo of the former Homeland Security secretary with her new canine reignited outrage over her story about killing an 'untrainable' dog named Cricket

Published Oct 19, 2026  •  Last updated 12 hours ago  •  3 minute read

Kristi Noem and her new hunting dog, Foster. Photo by Kristi Noem /X

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Kristi Noem shared a photo on social media of her new hunting dog, and the Internet did not disappoint.

The former Secretary of Homeland Security posed with Foster to mark the opening of pheasant hunting season.

“Happy Opener, South Dakota! Foster and I wish you good luck in the field!,” she wrote in an X post on Saturday.

“Pheasant hunting is part of who we are, and it’s a tradition worth passing on to our kids and grandkids,” Noem continued.

The state’s traditional pheasant hunting season runs from Oct. 17, 2026, to Jan. 31, 2027, according to South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks.

The former South Dakota governor went on to remind followers how she once partnered with landowners to start an initiative that turns marginal land into wildlife habitat “so the next generation can enjoy the same hunting traditions we grew up with.”

But most people were more concerned about Foster, with many expressing uneasiness about the dog and his well-being.

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The general consensus? “Save the dog.”

One person on X wrote: “Please don’t kill him.”

Others shared close-ups of Foster, noting that he “looks worried.”

“This poor dog is staring at the camera like he’s on death row,” a second person noted.

A third X user joked: “Blink twice if you’re in danger.”

Another added: “The worst possible thing you could post would be a dog and a gun, lady. Come on.”

The concern and criticism come after Noem, who now works as a senior advisor at the U.S. State Department, admitted in her 2024 memoir that she killed an “untrainable” dog named Cricket that she “hated.”

In No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Noem described how the young dog failed to behave as expected, killed a neighbour’s chickens and tried to bite her when she tried to restrain the animal.

Noem ultimately took Cricket to a gravel pit and shot her dead.

Details from the book were widely circulated at the time, unsurprisingly sparking outrage among Democrat and Republican animal lovers as Noem was being considered as Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Noem defended her decision to kill Cricket, arguing at the time that it was a difficult but necessary choice on a farm. She also said she was tired of politicians pretending to be something they are not.

“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch,” she wrote on X in April 2024.

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

She added: “As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”

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Noem led the Department of Homeland Security from January 2025 until Trump removed her from the position in March of this year over her handling of immigration enforcement tactics.

She was the first Cabinet secretary to leave the Trump administration during the president’s second term in the Oval Office.

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