Understanding why Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem shot her unruly hunting dog is also understanding the ethos of the state she represents.

Life is tough for most of South Dakota's 887,000 residents. Winters are long and bitterly cold. The economy mostly revolves around agriculture and all the uncertainty the weather imposes on farming and ranching. Two of the state's most popular attractions are called Deadwood and Badlands, to give you an idea of the understandable fatalism prevalent in the Mount Rushmore State (the monument dedicated to American presidents sculpted into granite on sacred Native American land).

Hunting is a way of life out there, especially bird hunting, which is what Noem's 14-month-old wirehaired pointer Cricket was being trained to do; find those pheasants, quail and chuckers and flush them so hunters can get a clear shot. Most hunting dogs have this instinct. They just need to learn discipline when they're in the field.

Evidently, Cricket didn't get the memo, so rather than offer the pup to a loving home or even leave it at a no-kill shelter, Noem shot the unfortunate pooch in the face, an incident she describes in her new book title of "No Going Back" (which is ironic since going back to, say, 1924 is what her MAGA movement is all about).

This is how things are in South Dakota specifically and the mountain west in general. Pull your weight or else. What Noem and her handlers underestimated was the public reaction to her callous act. Off she went on a media tour to promote book sales and herself as a prospective Donald Trump running mate. The tour quickly became a disaster, however, when Noem was repeatedly questioned about Cricket's summary execution and her imagined meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un.

By Wednesday of this week Noem had canceled the media tour, her national political hopes as dead as Cricket.