Noem Posts a Dog and a Rifle, and Commenters Think of Cricket

On Saturday, the opening day of South Dakota's pheasant season, former governor and former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem posted a picture on X of herself in hunting gear with a rifle and a dog named Foster. The caption, as Newsweek quoted it, was cheerful and local: "Happy Opener, South Dakota! Foster and I wish you good luck in the field!"

The internet did not stay on the subject of pheasants. According to Newsweek, the post had 2.2 million views and thousands of comments by Saturday afternoon, and thousands of commenters joked or worried that she would harm the dog. They were pointing to her 2024 memoir, in which Noem described shooting her own dog, Cricket.

The timing added to the attention. The photo went up a day after a State Department official said Noem's role as special envoy had ended.

A Hunting Photo Meets an Old Story

Newsweek said the dog "looks to be a Vizsla," though that is the magazine's own guess, not something Noem stated. The same photo on Facebook drew similar comments. One reply quoted by Newsweek summed up the mood: "The worst possible thing you could post would be a dog and a gun, lady."

Another commenter wrote "Please don't kill him." Newsweek quoted those words from a commenter it did not name. Another outlet has attributed the line to a specific named commentator, but that attribution is unconfirmed, and we have not repeated the name here.

The Cricket episode remains Noem's own account, and it has not been independently verified. In her book No Going Back, excerpts of which were published by The Guardian in April 2024, she wrote that the 14-month-old dog had attacked a family's chickens and tried to bite her, and she called the animal "untrainable." She has said the decision was about her children's safety.

Is Foster Actually New?

Some coverage may have gotten ahead of itself. The New York Post, in a headline echoed by Political Wire, called Foster a new hunting dog. We could not open the Post's piece, so that characterization rests on the Political Wire excerpt. The Daily Beast, in an excerpt we were able to review, pointed to hunting photos of Foster with Noem going back to October 2022, when she called him a "#perfectdog." Whether Noem owns Foster or he belongs to someone else has not been confirmed.

The caption also mentioned the Second Century Initiative, a program Noem started as governor that works with landowners to turn marginal land into wildlife habitat. Newsweek reported that pheasant season in South Dakota runs from October 17 through January 31.

The Envoy Job Ends

On Friday, a State Department official said Noem was no longer special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, a Trump administration Western Hemisphere security initiative covering drug trafficking, criminal networks and illegal migration. Noem shared the department's statement on X as a screenshot. It read, in part: "The Special Envoy to the Shield of the Americas role was always a six-month appointment."

That framing comes from a statement Noem herself circulated, and Newsweek did not independently confirm it. According to Newsweek, Noem had reported to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and is now his senior adviser, and will keep working on the initiative.

Noem governed South Dakota from 2019 to 2025 and was fired as Homeland Security secretary in March, Newsweek reported. The magazine also reported that she filed for divorce in September.

What Comes Next

Neither Noem's representatives nor the State Department had answered Newsweek's requests for comment as of its publication on Saturday. Pheasant season runs through January 31, so more hunting posts are possible. Whether Foster belongs to Noem, and what she says about the attention, are questions still waiting on answers.