While South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem was seen as a likely candidate to be former President Donald Trump's running mate, that changed after she admitted to having once shot a dog.

That issue came up when Noem appeared on Fox Business this week, and she responded by ending the interview. 

Noem says she acted to protect livestock and her children

According to The Hill, a visibly annoyed Noem was asked about the incident by Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Tuesday.

"Well, I don’t think you have the facts straight," Noem told Varney. "This was a vicious, dangerous dog, that was a working dog, and I had to make a choice between the safety of my children and an animal that was killing livestock and attacking people."

Wow! Noem loses it at Varney: "Enough, Stuart. This interview is ridiculous what you are doing right now. You need to stop." pic.twitter.com/SAweDXFJfs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 7, 2024

Noem said shooting the dog had been a "very hard decision" and she chose to reveal it because "a lot of politicians run from the truth."

"Let's talk about some real topics that Americans care about"

"I know that a lot of people are using attacks to try to take me down because they’re scared of me. Listen, I've run 12 campaigns, and all I've done is won," the governor insisted.

Varney remarked that Fox Business is "consumed with emails" from people who assert that they won't support someone who has killed a dog.

While Noem indicated that she speaks with the former president "all the time," the governor lost patience with Varney when he demanded to know if Trump had addressed the dog issue.

"Enough, Stuart. This interview is ridiculous, what you are doing right now," Noem complained. "So, you need to stop. It is. It is. Let's talk about some real topics that Americans care about."

Noem shot dog after it killed multiple chickens

According to Newsweek, Noem first recounted how she shot the dog in her book titled, "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward."

The governor explained that the animal proved to be "untrainable" when it killed multiple chickens by "grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another."

Noem said she "had to put her down" and did so after she paid the chickens' owner and helped to clean up the resulting mess.

"It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done," Noem wrote.