Hilkka, the dog at the centre of Yle’s Pentulive livestream, has given birth to six puppies, with thousands of viewers watching the arrivals online. The litter of two females and four males was born early on a Saturday morning, Finland’s public broadcaster said. The births came during the first week of the show’s new season, which follows the litter from just before birth until the puppies are ready to leave.
All six puppies have grown well and put on weight as expected in the days since the birth. Regular weigh-ins show that each one is getting enough milk and developing normally, and Yle said Hilkka is looking after the litter well. She had been the main attraction of the stream before the birth, and this is her second litter, coming a little over two years after her first. Her breeder has described the Lagotto Romagnolo as a dog who thinks everything is fun.
Pentulive, known in English as Puppy Live, is a slow-TV stream that runs 24 hours a day on Yle Areena. Its sixth season began on 6 October at 7pm, and coverage lasts eight weeks, from shortly before the birth until the puppies leave for their new homes. The stream is filmed at the breeder’s home, and Yle does not name the breeder or disclose the location, in order to protect Hilkka and her puppies.
The format has built a large audience in Finland. The fifth season drew more than one million viewers and was one of the most-watched programmes on Yle Areena in 2025, while clips from the show collected about 20 million impressions on social media during the year. Yle’s latest update says thousands of people watched the births alone. The format is simple: a mother dog and her litter, streamed live around the clock with no scripted storyline.
Yle has already started sharing short clips and moments from the new litter with its audience. Highlights so far include the firstborn puppy apparently doing a late-night training session, Hilkka seemingly dreaming that she is roaming free, and one puppy bulldozing its siblings out of the way to reach the milk. With several weeks of the eight-week stream still to run, viewers can follow the puppies as they grow until they move on to their new families.
