‘I take my dog everywhere!’: Woman sparks controversy over whether dogs should be allowed everywhere babies are

Would you rather be sat on an airplane next to a screaming baby, or a barking dog? One of these is already fully allowed (babies), and others feel their furry friends deserve the same accessibility, especially given that Gen Zers have more pets than kids.

In a new video for Kahreem Rahma’s series ‘Subway Takes,’ jewelry maker Susan Korn provided opinions on the ol’ “Are dogs the new kids?” debate. It’s clearly still a hot-button issue, as evidenced by the 24.3M views, 12K likes, 6.2K reshares and 1.2K comments that follow in the series’ X post from Jan. 29., 2025.

“Dogs should be allowed everywhere that babies are allowed,” Korn states, as the subway car zooms through underground New York City, her own dog seated on her lap. 

“100 percent disagree,” Rahma replies. “Dogs belong outside,” to which Korn further responds, “Everywhere that a baby goes, a dog should be allowed to go.”

Korn further elaborates that these places include restaurants, movie theaters, airplanes, and hotels, and that she’s brought her own dog, Pigeon, to the movies, the grocery store, and even the doctor’s office.

“When you go out to dinner and you hear babies screaming and crying and throwing things on the ground, you should consider if a dog should be allowed there too,” Korn explains. “The dogs can clean up the mess that a baby leaves.”

“So can the people,” Rahma affirms.

“Should we put human lives ahead of dog lives?” Korn adds.

Why aren’t dogs allowed inside the same places as humans?

The idea that man’s best friend cannot share the same space as said man’s baby isn’t so outrageous. Over 59.8M American households have at least one dog, according to the 2024 AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook. Despite this, many public places in the U.S. are not dog-friendly.

Restaurants and cafes often cite health and safety codes as the reason why Rex has to stay outside. However, at least 23 U.S. states have regulations that allow dogs to sit with their owners that offer outside patio options, and the Animal Rescue Site shared that six states have reformed some of their health code laws to allow dogs to accompany their owners indoors as well.

Dogs are allowed on the New York City subway, but must be “in a bag or other container and carried in a way that doesn’t annoy other riders.” For the baby fans, strollers are also allowed as long as they are transporting children.

Korn plans to make some serious changes if she ever gets into politics. “The law with dogs coming places when I’m mayor will have nuance to it,” she describes in the video.

DOGS SHOULD BE ALLOWED EVERYWHERE BABIES ARE ALLOWED pic.twitter.com/cxe3We2srn

— SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma (@SubwayTakes) January 29, 2025

The internet debates whether dogs should be allowed in all the same places as babies

Shortly after the video was posted, X exploded with discourse on the subject of dogs being allowed in the same places as humans. Many felt that Korn was wrong to make such a heated comparison and that her justifications were not compelling enough.

“I take my dog everywhere,” Korn tells the Daily Dot. “Generally people are really thrilled and excited!” She also said that most of her friends and even other kids agree with her idea (albeit her friends are mostly dog lovers).

“The reason dogs aren’t allowed everywhere babies are isn’t that movie theater owners somehow haven’t realized that a little dog sleeping quietly in a purse is less disruptive than a screaming baby,” X user @lllliatttt wrote, above a reshare of the video. “It’s because babies are human beings.”

The post resonated across the platform, with 9M views, 284K likes, 14K reshares, and 834 comments, including a reply from X user @heyyitsjanea.

“It’s insane that people think we should treat animals and humans the same in every regard,” they responded. “Animals can be left at home alone. you leave a baby alone and you’re going to jail.”

A viral X post from @generalslug provided similar thoughts. “Has anyone ever been mauled by a baby. do people commonly have severe allergies to babies. do babies routinely do their shitting and pissing on the ground?” The post from Jan. 30., 2025 has 4.4M views, 155K likes, 9.1K reshares and 368 comments.

“Like even if you’re the kind of misanthrope who can’t wrap your head around why babies and children are not like pets + are given concessions pets don’t get,” they continued in an X thread comment. “There are plenty of other practical reasons why your dog doesn’t belong in every place you decide to drag them to.”

Others seemed to provide more balanced takes on the subject. X user @Srirachachau wrote that “If it’s an outdoor setting, think dogs are generally fine to be there if the owner has a hold on em. Indoor setting, probablay shouldn’t be near food and otherwise depends on if the place allows em.”

While that might be a decent compromise, other users pointed out that elsewhere in the world, dogs are welcome indoors and many of the issues stated against it were not really a problem.

“I went to France and Germany last year and dogs were allowed everywhere,” X user @KtSweetandSpicy replied in a comment to @Srirachachau’s post. “Saw them on the tops of the alps riding up on the gondola, on tour ships on lakes, in restaurants, hotels, the bus, the train- everywhere. I love dogs so it was fine with me.”

Even @lllliatttt admitted that not all dogs-inside-places-people-go are problematic, but more that it depends on the dog and, in some cases, the owner. 

“i personally love encountering dogs in (some) restaurants and grocery stores, tho i understand why many people don’t,” they added in an X comment thread. “Encountering a dog improves just about any experience for me! but even this chick admits that it doesn’t work to have every type of dog in every setting.”

“I think the ‘haters’ should know that I’m aware that not everyone loves animals and people have their own complicated reasons for feeling a certain way,” Korn tells the Daily Dot. “I generally find animals to be soothing, healing and an arbiter of all around good!”

The Daily Dot reached out to Subway Takes via Instagram DM and @generalslug via X DM for comment.

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