I’m driving across this big country, stuck in the mountains of Colorado, after a snowstorm swept through Vail. It’s a lovely part of the country, and Colorado is the prettiest state. I’m am, as usual, with my two traveling companions, by beloved dogs Jack and Luna. They have completely different personalities. Jack loves the snow. Luna hates it. Jack is easygoing and friendly.
I am amazed that a rancher's daughter shooting a dog is such a shock to people. Animals on a ranch are raised to die to keep humans fed. A dog is like livestock. It had a job to do and wasn't doing it. Funny no one is crying about the chickens.
Farm animals are not pets. They have a function. If they don't fulfill the function, they are replaced.
And until about 15 minutes ago, this was the story of almost every domestic animal on the planet. It's the Disneyfication, the Bambi-fication of animals that is new.
I have great respect for Sasha in most things, but a film critic should get that.
I've been around some farmers. Of course, when your life revolves around raising livestock, it may affect your feelings about 'pets'. I don't know about Kristi's dog, but farm pets, dogs and cats, are not necessarily house pets. It's more of a symbiotic relationship, where. cats kill mice, rats and anything else that needs killing. Don't presume that the cats get fed by the farmer. Dogs are a presence against coyotes and other predators, and they do help hunt. Any animal, livestock or pet, that has reached the end of its useful life is likely to be 'put down' by the farmer.
That's reality, folks. As others have said, this ain't a Disney movie.
That's how I saw it until Noem said that she hated the dog. That didn't come across as the tough woman doing a hard job, but rather, as Sasha points out, a woman who cannot control her emotions and is trigger happy. From these anecdotes Noem appears to be more out of control than Cricket. Perhaps Noem should be put down. She will be politically, at least.
So Gov. Noem isn't permitted to have a reaction to the dog's defiant disobedience? I'd say she revealed herself to be human and not a utopian robot behaving as the world's self-appointed critics demand. She had a problem that was frustrating and she dealt with it expediently as a farmer / rancher is wont to do with an animal that's not here for companionship. I respect and like all animals but the reality is our Creator put them here and made man dominant over them all. Farmers and ranchers put down foxes, wolves, and all predators who attack their herds and flocks regardless of the predator's age. The young dog wasn't acquired to be game or a companion but to protect the livestock and also to assist in the hunt. After it displayed an alarming penchant for bloodlust she had no choice. I would have done the same. I've no doubt she will terminate (employment) any employee among her direct reports that cannot perform either.
Thank God someone else understands this. This dog was not a pet. With that said, I find this kerfuffle illuminating as to Governor Noem. Her judgement - questionable. Her ability to think on her feet - limited to non-existent. Glad we found out before she won the VP contest.
I assume that Noem put the story in the book because people knew it and she wanted it out in a controlled way. Where she went off the rails was hating on the dog because it messed up the hunt. If she had just stuck to the chickens and it trying to bite her and done something like It's a dirty job but someone had to do it, she could have gotten through it. So, yes she is too dumb.
I imagine she put it in the book because she was writing a memoir and memoirs are just that, memories, unpleasant as well as pleasant. As for hating the dog, it happens just like people hate some humans because of things they do and/or say.
Love you Sasha, and agree with your perspective 99.9%, but we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on the dog. She attempted to train this dog. It didn’t work. Most people with country property and livestock will agree with what she did, and perhaps wish it were done more often.
My husband and I have a place in the country. My free-range chickens have suffered through two mass-slaughterings by a neighbor’s dog. He waits until we drive to the back, then attacks. Kills every…single…chicken. Doesn’t eat them. Just kills them. About 15 of them. After the first time, the neighbor promised to keep the dog penned up, and he restocked our chickens. But the dog got out, and came back…cuz he realized that…he loved killing chickens! Not eating them…just killing them. He killed neighbor’s chickens, chewed baby calves legs off, killed goats. They become serial killers. Once they get the taste of killing animals, rubber toys just won’t do.
The Sheriff would do nothing unless we had live-action video. Yeh, like we’re going to let him rummage through our chickens while we get out our cell phones. First of all, they do this on the sly. Secondly, you’ll run him off! Shooting a chicken-murmuring dog is almost impossible, unless you take your chickens and half the barn with him. So it’s a vicious cycle. Therefore he will kill again. Only the owner can put him down.
Needless to say, this guy refused to kill his dog. And our “free-range” chickens had to be penned up, no longer free-range. Everyone wanted to shoot the dog. But there’s never an opportunity to get a free, save and unrestricted shot, even in the country. The neighbor sold his property and moved instead. And we have our free-range chickens again.
She could have taken him to the vet, to put him down. But the vet would try to convince her not to do that to an apparently healthy dog. She could have given him to someone else. But once he’s killed chickens, he will always kill chickens.
I know they’re “just chickens,” but as I watch my glorious, productive, human-like chickens, run around the yard, eating bugs, arguing with each other, and making love and eggs, my heart is heavy with the thought of what my other two lovely, healthy flocks went through…and I wish I’d had a gun…and opportunity for a good aim those two days.
A memory just came flooding back from my school days on my parents' farm. We had a dog who killed a chicken, so my dad tied the dead chicken around its neck. I don't recall for how many days, but this dog walked around in total despondency with that carcass strapped to its neck. Visitors were alarmed. But my dad knew it would work because apparently he'd seen it applied before, and by gosh, it did work. The dog never killed a chicken again. My dad was a firm believer in having your dog be totally obedient to its master. And he achieved this!
For every tale of that technique working, I’ve heard two in which it didn’t. Don’t want to try it out on my chickens. How about yours? Chickens are sensitive and complex too. A stray dog came to our property once. He was lost and scared. Wanted nothing to do with the chickens. He came straight and humbly to me. I put him on a leash and called his owner. We came around the corner of the barn where the chickens hang, and every one of the hens had formed a circle around our huge, gorgeous, kind rooster. I figured he would be in front of them, trying to protect them. Then I realized that if he dies, they don’t get to reproduce, whereas if a few of the hens die, the species survives. They were protecting him from a potential attack by the dog. It was a beautiful thing to see. And again reminded me of those two terrible days in which they ALL died. You can try the dead one tied around the neck, but don’t use my lovely chickens as your test!
Of course not! This was my dad, and to know him is to know that he would not tolerate anything but full compliance from his dogs. I don't have that personality. I am too emotional and lenient with my pets. It's not for everyone. I have quails, but I'd love to have chickens some day. Love your story about the hens protecting their rooster!
That was a nice freewheeling essay. You are a great person for saving Jack after he came up to you at a gas station. You're right about everything else in there too. Best of luck.
Go live on a ranch or large farm in any state. Much different perspective if you do. Once an animal attacks another and kills it (that animal will be on an each for its entire life surrounded by animals they can kill) you will understand. I love the fantasy that cute cuddly creatures can’t kill but it isn’t a realistic scenario. I owned a large farm. It is basic knowledge that you put the animals down. Raccoons, ground hogs, chipmunks are killed everyday on farms for valid reasons. I think the paid hate mongers are targeting Kristi Noem for other reasons (not saying you are one of them). Understanding owning large livestock farms is a big part of this issue. I owned a 80 acre farm. If my dog was loose the first thing I did was call my neighbor farmers to let them know. I also asked them to not shoot them.
What people fail to realize is that you really cant rehome an aggressive dog. If it was aggressive at 14 months it would only get worse. Not with chickens thats just hunting instinct Im talking about biting people. It bit her. Its stupid the way she put it in the book. But aggressive dogs get put down all the time. A veterinarian once told me she had to put down good friendly dogs all the time because they got illnesses too expensive for their owners to treat. So putting down a biting dog was no problem for her
We had a dog that bit several people so we returned him to the humane society. They put him down . How is that any different than what Kristi did? I think some of the confusion is due to some people thinking a dog is on the same level as a person. About 20 years ago my vet started asking if my cat was family. Huh? It’s a cat and yes we love him but he’s not my child.
Yes! Just like all those bumper stickers that say "Dog Grandma" or my vet saying "as the dog's mom." What the what!!? We're slipping into "Children of Men" territory here.
Farms are different. My uncle's dog killed the dog that the step-daughter brought to the farm because it ate its food or took its bed or something. IIRC they put that dog down as well. All this hate whipped up probably by political rivals and city folks were caught by surprise. Dogs get out of hand, put them down!
Every single childless person thinks they are experts criticizing parents on discipline, diet and all the rest. Cry for the HUMAN children, please. A dog chasing chicken has already declared itself. This was subtle political blowback. Was THAT the worst they could get from the book?
From my seat, I prefer Tulsi Gabbard anyway. She's probably Trump's best ally for getting votes. Trump is here and there, Tulsi is consistent.
Holy Mother of Moicy, the Boy Scouts organization is so dumb. They don't have the political instinct to recognize that Woke has passed its peak. There's no other explanation for this.
I suppose the Scouts were destined to decline with the deterioration of society. I think that as it affects the Scouts, this has happened primarily because of the metastasizing heterogeneity of the population. The idea of a "proposition society" has an idealistic grandeur to it, but it just doesn't suffice to inspirit citizens to believe they still have a common culture. Like it or not, the Scouts were an Anglo - American thing, and most men who come from Third World cultures were never going to have any serious interest in being scoutmasters, not that the Boy Scouts as they used to be would have had much interest in having them in those positions. This is America, or was.
Of course, one cannot overlook all of the sex assaults. I'm serious about the following: inasmuch as the Scouts were like fields white unto harvest for gay pedophiles, might the Scouts have done better to have changed their structure, to have combined scout troops into larger groups, then to have hired men with good reputations to be scoutmasters? They could have been retired military, retired cops, retired athletes, and if the Scouts had paid good salaries, they could have attracted truly good men to take those positions.
But like so many other great things in American life, from neighborhood soda fountains to pool halls to small, locally owned grocery stores, the Scouts are dead. I wouldn't let my son join unless he were going to be taking hormones for gender reassignment.
Well now we know the Left targeted the Boys Scouts. There was NO reason to allow girls since they have the Girl Scouts. Now that we are AC (After Covid) we can see they achieved what they were after, to destroy boys by destroying the Boy Scouts. Unfortunately the Left succeeded.
My point was that if that had been changed, and yes, it would have cost quite a lot, the Scouts which I remember might have been saved. The other part would have needed to be the moral courage to resist the near universal blandishments to open the Scouts to girls.
The Boy Scout decision doesn't surprise me. Once they gave up their essential purpose -- assisting boys to become men -- they lost their reason to exist, in my opinion.
Nice pair of pups you have Sasha, they are lucky to have you! Safe travels out there. If you really like Colorado, maybe try out James Michener’s ‘Centennial’ which is a fun, historical fiction read of Colorado since humankind first inhabited that land, up through year of publishing (1974)
"I know things are different in the country and on farms, but this whole story seems wrong. Nothing about it really fits together in my mind except that no matter how it went down, no matter how many interviews she gives, it isn’t going to erase the image we all have in our minds of her taking aim and shooting a very young dog. She said, “I hated that dog.” Right back at ya, honey."
Oh Good Lord! It's A DOG! People are losing their minds about she Shot A DOG. Looks like The Silly Season comes early this year.
I am amazed that a rancher's daughter shooting a dog is such a shock to people. Animals on a ranch are raised to die to keep humans fed. A dog is like livestock. It had a job to do and wasn't doing it. Funny no one is crying about the chickens.
Farm animals are not pets. They have a function. If they don't fulfill the function, they are replaced.
And until about 15 minutes ago, this was the story of almost every domestic animal on the planet. It's the Disneyfication, the Bambi-fication of animals that is new.
I have great respect for Sasha in most things, but a film critic should get that.
I've been around some farmers. Of course, when your life revolves around raising livestock, it may affect your feelings about 'pets'. I don't know about Kristi's dog, but farm pets, dogs and cats, are not necessarily house pets. It's more of a symbiotic relationship, where. cats kill mice, rats and anything else that needs killing. Don't presume that the cats get fed by the farmer. Dogs are a presence against coyotes and other predators, and they do help hunt. Any animal, livestock or pet, that has reached the end of its useful life is likely to be 'put down' by the farmer.
That's reality, folks. As others have said, this ain't a Disney movie.
That's how I saw it until Noem said that she hated the dog. That didn't come across as the tough woman doing a hard job, but rather, as Sasha points out, a woman who cannot control her emotions and is trigger happy. From these anecdotes Noem appears to be more out of control than Cricket. Perhaps Noem should be put down. She will be politically, at least.
So Gov. Noem isn't permitted to have a reaction to the dog's defiant disobedience? I'd say she revealed herself to be human and not a utopian robot behaving as the world's self-appointed critics demand. She had a problem that was frustrating and she dealt with it expediently as a farmer / rancher is wont to do with an animal that's not here for companionship. I respect and like all animals but the reality is our Creator put them here and made man dominant over them all. Farmers and ranchers put down foxes, wolves, and all predators who attack their herds and flocks regardless of the predator's age. The young dog wasn't acquired to be game or a companion but to protect the livestock and also to assist in the hunt. After it displayed an alarming penchant for bloodlust she had no choice. I would have done the same. I've no doubt she will terminate (employment) any employee among her direct reports that cannot perform either.
Thank God someone else understands this. This dog was not a pet. With that said, I find this kerfuffle illuminating as to Governor Noem. Her judgement - questionable. Her ability to think on her feet - limited to non-existent. Glad we found out before she won the VP contest.
It's always good to read sane posts like this.
...y'all probly seen the great 2015 film 'Far From the Madding Crowd' where Farmer Oak had to shoot his young dog for a similar reason.
I am! See my comment a ways down.
Two things:
1. Noem has been exposed as too stupid to ever be anything above governor of a small state.
2. Rick Wilson can no longer be called a Republican. A Republican is someone who votes mostly for Republicans.
I assume that Noem put the story in the book because people knew it and she wanted it out in a controlled way. Where she went off the rails was hating on the dog because it messed up the hunt. If she had just stuck to the chickens and it trying to bite her and done something like It's a dirty job but someone had to do it, she could have gotten through it. So, yes she is too dumb.
I imagine she put it in the book because she was writing a memoir and memoirs are just that, memories, unpleasant as well as pleasant. As for hating the dog, it happens just like people hate some humans because of things they do and/or say.
People write memoirs to make themselves look good. This was pretty much an epic fail.
Or, far more likely, just way too honest. For some. Like you.
Love you Sasha, and agree with your perspective 99.9%, but we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on the dog. She attempted to train this dog. It didn’t work. Most people with country property and livestock will agree with what she did, and perhaps wish it were done more often.
My husband and I have a place in the country. My free-range chickens have suffered through two mass-slaughterings by a neighbor’s dog. He waits until we drive to the back, then attacks. Kills every…single…chicken. Doesn’t eat them. Just kills them. About 15 of them. After the first time, the neighbor promised to keep the dog penned up, and he restocked our chickens. But the dog got out, and came back…cuz he realized that…he loved killing chickens! Not eating them…just killing them. He killed neighbor’s chickens, chewed baby calves legs off, killed goats. They become serial killers. Once they get the taste of killing animals, rubber toys just won’t do.
The Sheriff would do nothing unless we had live-action video. Yeh, like we’re going to let him rummage through our chickens while we get out our cell phones. First of all, they do this on the sly. Secondly, you’ll run him off! Shooting a chicken-murmuring dog is almost impossible, unless you take your chickens and half the barn with him. So it’s a vicious cycle. Therefore he will kill again. Only the owner can put him down.
Needless to say, this guy refused to kill his dog. And our “free-range” chickens had to be penned up, no longer free-range. Everyone wanted to shoot the dog. But there’s never an opportunity to get a free, save and unrestricted shot, even in the country. The neighbor sold his property and moved instead. And we have our free-range chickens again.
She could have taken him to the vet, to put him down. But the vet would try to convince her not to do that to an apparently healthy dog. She could have given him to someone else. But once he’s killed chickens, he will always kill chickens.
I know they’re “just chickens,” but as I watch my glorious, productive, human-like chickens, run around the yard, eating bugs, arguing with each other, and making love and eggs, my heart is heavy with the thought of what my other two lovely, healthy flocks went through…and I wish I’d had a gun…and opportunity for a good aim those two days.
Yes, it is called the “Three SSSs”:
Shoot, Shovel, Shut Up.
A memory just came flooding back from my school days on my parents' farm. We had a dog who killed a chicken, so my dad tied the dead chicken around its neck. I don't recall for how many days, but this dog walked around in total despondency with that carcass strapped to its neck. Visitors were alarmed. But my dad knew it would work because apparently he'd seen it applied before, and by gosh, it did work. The dog never killed a chicken again. My dad was a firm believer in having your dog be totally obedient to its master. And he achieved this!
For every tale of that technique working, I’ve heard two in which it didn’t. Don’t want to try it out on my chickens. How about yours? Chickens are sensitive and complex too. A stray dog came to our property once. He was lost and scared. Wanted nothing to do with the chickens. He came straight and humbly to me. I put him on a leash and called his owner. We came around the corner of the barn where the chickens hang, and every one of the hens had formed a circle around our huge, gorgeous, kind rooster. I figured he would be in front of them, trying to protect them. Then I realized that if he dies, they don’t get to reproduce, whereas if a few of the hens die, the species survives. They were protecting him from a potential attack by the dog. It was a beautiful thing to see. And again reminded me of those two terrible days in which they ALL died. You can try the dead one tied around the neck, but don’t use my lovely chickens as your test!
Of course not! This was my dad, and to know him is to know that he would not tolerate anything but full compliance from his dogs. I don't have that personality. I am too emotional and lenient with my pets. It's not for everyone. I have quails, but I'd love to have chickens some day. Love your story about the hens protecting their rooster!
Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. We'd thrash our puppies with the chickens they had killed.
Well done.
That was a nice freewheeling essay. You are a great person for saving Jack after he came up to you at a gas station. You're right about everything else in there too. Best of luck.
Go live on a ranch or large farm in any state. Much different perspective if you do. Once an animal attacks another and kills it (that animal will be on an each for its entire life surrounded by animals they can kill) you will understand. I love the fantasy that cute cuddly creatures can’t kill but it isn’t a realistic scenario. I owned a large farm. It is basic knowledge that you put the animals down. Raccoons, ground hogs, chipmunks are killed everyday on farms for valid reasons. I think the paid hate mongers are targeting Kristi Noem for other reasons (not saying you are one of them). Understanding owning large livestock farms is a big part of this issue. I owned a 80 acre farm. If my dog was loose the first thing I did was call my neighbor farmers to let them know. I also asked them to not shoot them.
What people fail to realize is that you really cant rehome an aggressive dog. If it was aggressive at 14 months it would only get worse. Not with chickens thats just hunting instinct Im talking about biting people. It bit her. Its stupid the way she put it in the book. But aggressive dogs get put down all the time. A veterinarian once told me she had to put down good friendly dogs all the time because they got illnesses too expensive for their owners to treat. So putting down a biting dog was no problem for her
All this anger over an animal. But when a child is killed...
We had a dog that bit several people so we returned him to the humane society. They put him down . How is that any different than what Kristi did? I think some of the confusion is due to some people thinking a dog is on the same level as a person. About 20 years ago my vet started asking if my cat was family. Huh? It’s a cat and yes we love him but he’s not my child.
Yes! Just like all those bumper stickers that say "Dog Grandma" or my vet saying "as the dog's mom." What the what!!? We're slipping into "Children of Men" territory here.
PETA is anti-human.
Farms are different. My uncle's dog killed the dog that the step-daughter brought to the farm because it ate its food or took its bed or something. IIRC they put that dog down as well. All this hate whipped up probably by political rivals and city folks were caught by surprise. Dogs get out of hand, put them down!
Every single childless person thinks they are experts criticizing parents on discipline, diet and all the rest. Cry for the HUMAN children, please. A dog chasing chicken has already declared itself. This was subtle political blowback. Was THAT the worst they could get from the book?
From my seat, I prefer Tulsi Gabbard anyway. She's probably Trump's best ally for getting votes. Trump is here and there, Tulsi is consistent.
Holy Mother of Moicy, the Boy Scouts organization is so dumb. They don't have the political instinct to recognize that Woke has passed its peak. There's no other explanation for this.
I suppose the Scouts were destined to decline with the deterioration of society. I think that as it affects the Scouts, this has happened primarily because of the metastasizing heterogeneity of the population. The idea of a "proposition society" has an idealistic grandeur to it, but it just doesn't suffice to inspirit citizens to believe they still have a common culture. Like it or not, the Scouts were an Anglo - American thing, and most men who come from Third World cultures were never going to have any serious interest in being scoutmasters, not that the Boy Scouts as they used to be would have had much interest in having them in those positions. This is America, or was.
Of course, one cannot overlook all of the sex assaults. I'm serious about the following: inasmuch as the Scouts were like fields white unto harvest for gay pedophiles, might the Scouts have done better to have changed their structure, to have combined scout troops into larger groups, then to have hired men with good reputations to be scoutmasters? They could have been retired military, retired cops, retired athletes, and if the Scouts had paid good salaries, they could have attracted truly good men to take those positions.
But like so many other great things in American life, from neighborhood soda fountains to pool halls to small, locally owned grocery stores, the Scouts are dead. I wouldn't let my son join unless he were going to be taking hormones for gender reassignment.
Well now we know the Left targeted the Boys Scouts. There was NO reason to allow girls since they have the Girl Scouts. Now that we are AC (After Covid) we can see they achieved what they were after, to destroy boys by destroying the Boy Scouts. Unfortunately the Left succeeded.
They have a way of doing that, haven't they? America desperately needs people with moral courage.
Scoutleaders are volunteers.
You don't mean it!!
My point was that if that had been changed, and yes, it would have cost quite a lot, the Scouts which I remember might have been saved. The other part would have needed to be the moral courage to resist the near universal blandishments to open the Scouts to girls.
The Boy Scout decision doesn't surprise me. Once they gave up their essential purpose -- assisting boys to become men -- they lost their reason to exist, in my opinion.
The destruction of the Boy Scouts tells you everything you need to know about the enemy and is the destruction of our culture in microcosm.
Nice pair of pups you have Sasha, they are lucky to have you! Safe travels out there. If you really like Colorado, maybe try out James Michener’s ‘Centennial’ which is a fun, historical fiction read of Colorado since humankind first inhabited that land, up through year of publishing (1974)
Loved that book.
Not the first rancher to dispatch a dog, and I doubt the last. I wish people were as outraged about the slaughter of unborn babies…
"I know things are different in the country and on farms, but this whole story seems wrong. Nothing about it really fits together in my mind except that no matter how it went down, no matter how many interviews she gives, it isn’t going to erase the image we all have in our minds of her taking aim and shooting a very young dog. She said, “I hated that dog.” Right back at ya, honey."
Oh Good Lord! It's A DOG! People are losing their minds about she Shot A DOG. Looks like The Silly Season comes early this year.