Six Envelopes Were Placed in a Litter Box, and the Puppies Took It From There

The six lagotto romagnolo puppies starring in Finland’s Pentulive puppy cam did not just receive their names. They chose them, from six envelopes placed in their own litter box, during the Oct. 24 live stream. Jyri Loikkanen of the Pentulive team at Yle, Finland’s public broadcaster, explained the process to Hooray News in an email interview on Oct. 27, 2026.⁶

Pentulive streams a litter around the clock for about eight weeks, from birth until the puppies leave for new homes.¹ Our earlier story looked at how Yle says last year’s Pentulive webpage drew 6.5 million page views in a country of about 5.66 million people.⁷ That figure is Yle’s own, as reported by CNN, and it counts page views, not individual viewers.² Our Oct. 27 story told how the team covered the birth night over Google Meet.

How the Pentulive puppies got their names

“Naming was done together with audiences and the breeder family,” Loikkanen told Hooray News.⁶

Viewers first suggested themes. A vote narrowed those to three: Italy, the breed’s home country; fairytale characters; and the Finnish author Aleksis Kivi. The Kivi theme had a neat reason behind it. The puppies were born on Oct. 10, his anniversary and Finland’s National Day of Literature. Names were then suggested and voted on.⁶

The final step went to the puppies. “Process ended up puppies themselves selecting the names in Oct 24th live stream out of six envelopes in the litter box,” Loikkanen said.⁶

The six are Bella (the firstborn), Pepe, Dante, Luna, Enzo and Milo (the youngest), according to Yle’s Pentulive media materials and live blog.⁶¹ CNN reports the litter is two females and four males.²

An unexpected audience in the United States

“This is the 6th season of Pentulive and global interest decided to go through the roof now. Quite unexpected,” Loikkanen said.⁶

He said traffic from abroad stayed strong through the weekend of Oct. 24 and 25, with the United States still the top country outside Finland. In earlier seasons, he said, Pentulive got only occasional foreign interviews.⁶ The Associated Press reported that in less than two weeks the stream passed 6 million views on social media alone.³ The 24/7 stream page on Yle Areena showed about 14.46 million starts around Oct. 28.⁴

Pentulive was launched in 2021 by Yle science reporter Pirjo Koskinen as part of a series on canine science.²³ Loikkanen said the stream is meant to lead people to Yle articles on responsible dog ownership, from breeding and pregnancy care to socialization and life after adoption, and that it is produced with the wellbeing of the mother dog and puppies first. “Pentulive is factual content in an engaging format,” he said.⁶

First toys, first steps

On Oct. 27 the breeder placed the first toys ever in the puppy box: two plush rats named Runo and Romeo. The puppies at first ignored them and kept napping. After a meal, Enzo took an interest and was soon dragging one rat around in his mouth.¹ Viewers who had picked Enzo in Yle’s prediction game earned points. He eventually appeared to fall asleep with a rat’s tail in his mouth.¹

Mother Hilkka played with a toy while nursing, which Yle called classic mum multitasking. Milo and Luna take turns with a monkey toy, and Yle said it was waiting to see when the first sibling squabbles would arrive.¹

Puppies are born unable to see or hear. Their ear canals start opening at about 10 days and are fully open at about three weeks. These puppies now join in when the big dogs bark outside the box, and their eyes have begun to open.¹ Several puppies, including Milo, Bella and Pepe, have taken their first steps, often practicing at night, and the breeder says six mobile puppies make the box too small. It will be expanded in two stages.¹

Both parents, Hilkka and the father, Zorro, have had their temperaments tested. Both also had their hip, elbow and shoulder joints imaged and their eyes checked, and all were found healthy. Both were gene-tested for hereditary diseases that can affect lagottos.¹ As the breeder put it in Yle’s headline: “When the mother is well, the puppies are well too” (translated from Finnish).¹

A new Pentulive episode recapping the week’s puppy events comes out every Friday on Yle Areena.¹ Next up, Loikkanen said, is Halloween at the litter box on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 6 p.m. Finnish time (10 a.m. Central).⁶