Okay, that was funny.
Do it. I can answer that.
This story is so weird - so many things just don’t quite line up. This is the reading that makes the most sense, to me:
Noem shoots the dog in anger, then realizes that there are witnesses - oh bother. Years later, she’s preparing to enter the Big Time political stage, but wait: The dog-shooting story is bound to come up, there are witnesses. Well, let’s get on ahead of it and set the narrative: It wasn’t in anger - it was the righteous thing to do.
This is their victory march. They got everyone to buy the justified-shooting story! Unfortunately, societal acceptance of puppy-face-shooting has continued to trend low. But hey, at least nobody’s talking about the enraged spontaneous puppy-face-shooting, right? So.
If that was her strategy, she should have cleaned up the details a bit. Cricket was bitten by a rabid fox, and she tearfully did what she had to. The dog tried to maul a toddler. Something that didn’t include the phrase “I hated that dog,” maybe.
Not to mention throwing in the two-shot goat.
I am not in any way trying to defend Noem. But had she been taking the dog birdhunting with the intention of having her kill birds, or of having her retrieve the birds after a human had killed them (which is, ideally, done without biting down), or of having her point their location for a human, or of having her scare the birds up so a human could shoot them in the air?
Because many dogs used for birdhunting aren’t supposed to bite the birds.
(Expecting an untrained puppy to know that is of course absurd. Some dogs may be naturally soft-mouthed, but it can’t be counted on.)
It would have had to be the mauled toddler; because these days, that one wouldn’t work. The immediate question that comes to mind is, why wouldn’t Cricket have had her rabies shots? in which case, all she’d have needed would have been a booster shot, and the wound properly dressed.
And you still wouldn’t have the dog shot in the face by somebody who doesn’t know how to make a kill shot.
Although, come to think of it, Noem may be an anti-vaxxer, even for legally required rabies shots for dogs.
It’s pretty clear the dog never had any training. Pointers don’t attack fowl when hunting - they point, and flush on command. In fact, I can’t think of a single dog breed bred or trained to kill the birds themselves. And trained farm dogs definitely don’t run around just killing chickens. The entire story reeks of justifying everything after the fact, and poorly at that.
This may be the cleaned up version.
The original text may have been something like “Since I was a child, I’ve always enjoyed torturing animals. It quiets the voices in my head for a little while. I like to do it slowly so they suffer but sometimes when the voices are really loud, I just shoot whatever animal is nearest to me. One trick I’ve learned is to always make up some story about there being something wrong with the animal, in case some witnesses saw you killing it. Unless it’s a single witness and then you can kill them as well. That’ll quiet the voices for an entire day.”
I know one farmer missing a hand (hard-core liberal environmentalist), and one missing an arm. It’s more like you can get away with it until you don’t.
I was a town kid, but somehow ended up running a pea combine for Del Monte (I should have been in the canning factory). I knew nothing about operating farm equipment, so I followed the rules on shutting down a machine before sticking body parts in it (because I’d met the aforementioned handless and armless men), but one time did use a finger to test if the hitch was lined up to allow the pin to attach the fuel wagon to the combine that was going to tow it. Pulled it out just before I lost it when it jerked - lesson reinforced.
Kimberly Guilfoyle is suggesting that perhaps somebody snuck that story into the book without Kristi even knowing about it.
I would like to suggest that KG is very stupid.
I think we have the evidence for that already
I hope references to “gravel pit” enter the popular political lexicon as readily as “under the bus” did. Noem ain’t never gonna live this down, I hope.
Where’s Cricket?
I’m sorry dear, we’re not able to care for him anymore since he’s so old, so we sent him to a nice gravel pit in South Dakota. They tell us he’s having a great time playing with goats and construction workers.
Daughter: How nice is that gravel pit?
Noem: It’s to die for!
I worked for Green Giant. Don’t stick your had by the leveling system, either! 
Noem is NOT anti-vaccine. She’s PRO-FREEDOM!
Free Hat.
At a movie theater, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Tweek express contempt at Steven Spielberg and George Lucas altering their films prior to their reissue to “make them more PC”. They decide to form an organization to promote their cause. As an incentive, Cartman writes “free hat” on the sign and has Tweek fold paper hats to offer the attendees. Tweek is unable to make enough hats and the boys are surprised by the large turnout at the organization’s first meeting. However, the attendees misconstrue the incentive and believe that the club supports the release of Hat McCullough, who was convicted of murdering twenty-three infants.
I shouldn’t even ask this, but I will. Why is the phrase “in the face” being used regarding the puppy? Did she say that?
Let’s go down to the gravel pit and shoot shit. 
Where is Snowboarder Bo?