One of Donald Trump’s potential running mates is facing criticism for sharing a story in her memoir about how she killed her dog.

Kristi Noem, 52, the governor of South Dakota, wrote in her soon-to-be released memoir that the dog, Cricket, was “untrainable” and “dangerous”.

After deciding she needed to be put down, Ms Noem led the dog to a gravel pit and shot her.

“It was not a pleasant job,” she wrote. “But it had to be done.”

The memoir, titled No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, is due for release on 7 May, though an excerpt was obtained by The Guardian.

The tale garnered several reactions from people online, prompting Ms Noem to defend herself in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

She wrote: “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”

“Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”