Finland’s Puppy Cam Birth Was Staffed by a Google Meet and Rotating Naps

Hilkka, the curly-coated mother dog at the center of Finland’s 24/7 puppy livestream Pentulive, has a job to get back to. Once her six puppies leave for their new homes, she is going back to the high school where she works as a school dog.

“Yes, Hilkka will return to high school to help students after her maternity leave.”

That is what Jyri Loikkanen, producer of Pentulive at Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, told Hooray News in an email interview on Oct. 27, 2026. He said Yle plans to visit her workplace later in the season to film her at work.⁷

Hooray News first wrote about Pentulive on Oct. 24.⁸ The stream is a slow-TV broadcast from Yle, now in its sixth season. It follows a mother dog and her litter for about eight weeks, from birth until the puppies move to new homes.² Last year, the Pentulive webpage drew 6.5 million page views in a country of just under 5.66 million people, CNN reported, citing Yle.³

How the Pentulive puppies got their names

Hilkka, a Lagotto Romagnolo, gave birth to four boys and two girls on Oct. 10.¹ Naming them took several rounds of public voting. Loikkanen said viewers first sent hundreds of theme ideas, which were narrowed to three: Italy, where the Lagotto is the national dog breed; fairytale characters; and Aleksis Kivi, considered the father of Finnish literature. Oct. 10 is Kivi’s day and Finland’s national day of literature, so the puppies share a birthday with him.⁷

Viewers then suggested and voted on names. On the Oct. 24 livestream, the puppies made the final call themselves by picking from six envelopes in the litter box.⁷

All six names lean Italian: the litter is now Bella, Pepe, Dante, Luna, Enzo and Milo. All six had passed 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) at two weeks old. Pepe led at 1,188 grams, and Luna weighed in at exactly 1,000 grams, which clears the bar with zero to spare.¹

A long night on a video call

Loikkanen called the birth the season’s most memorable moment. Hilkka began showing signs of labor on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 9. The breeder had help on site, while the Yle team worked from home, keeping a Google Meet open all night to watch the stream and taking turns napping.⁷

At 1:30 a.m., the team’s dog expert and the breeder agreed labor had begun. A call list woke the rest of the team. The first puppy arrived at 2:32 a.m., and the sixth came shortly after 5 a.m.⁷

“Such a relief to witness the birth of six healthy little puppies!”

Why Americans are tuning in to a Finnish puppy cam

Yle said 1.85 million unique viewers watched Pentulive-related content in the first two weeks of this season.⁴ The stream also logged more than one million hours of viewing time in that stretch, and Yle said the season is on track to break earlier viewing records.⁶ By a separate measure, Yle News reported on Oct. 23 that the season had been viewed more than 10 million times, by people around the world.²

Loikkanen told Hooray News that the United States is still the top source of traffic outside Finland. Earlier seasons drew only occasional interviews from abroad.⁷

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

He pointed to a gloomy news mood as one possible reason. “Perhaps we crave for something innocent and lovable,” he wrote. “A place somewhere we can escape for a moment, collect some courage, some hope, hope that we’ll make it through here.”⁷

The show is meant to teach as well as soothe. Its creator, Yle science journalist Pirjo Koskinen, has framed it around dog welfare: “So I see Puppy Live as an information campaign as much as a cuteness campaign.”²

What’s next in the litter box

The puppies are taking their first steps. Yle planned to expand the litter box for the first time on Friday, Oct. 30, using walls built to come apart in moments. A Halloween celebration in the litter box is set for Saturday, Oct. 31, at 6 p.m. Finland time (10 a.m. Central). Also on Oct. 30, the team planned to visit a relative of Hilkka’s who works at a kindergarten with 5-year-olds.⁷

The puppies will go to families chosen in advance by the breeder in mid-December. Yle keeps the breeder’s name and location private.⁵ Until then, the stream runs on Yle Areena, Yle.fi and the Yle app, with daily highlight videos and a weekly podcast.¹ Yle posts updates on its Finnish-language live blog.