If anything positive came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was that a lot of people adopted pets. With more people working from home and wanting some companionship, the number of adopted pets skyrocketed the past year. Even celebrities joined in on the trend, such as Kelly Ripa, who just announced that she welcomed a new fur baby into her home.

©Kelly Ripa

On Tuesday’s episode of ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ Ripa told her co-host, Ryan Seacrest about the Consuelos’ family’s newest edition. “The Consueloses have made a decision to adopt Lena,” she said. The 50-year-old went on to show pictures of Lena and told how the family decided to bring her home.

Earlier this month there was a Happy Pets segment on the morning talk show and Lena, who is a Maltese and Shih Tzu mix according to People, was one of the dogs on the segment. Lena isn’t the first pooch to come into the Consuelos family as they already have another rescue dog named Chewie. Ripa said it was important to make sure the two dogs got along before they officially decided to adopt her.

“My whole fear was that I didn‘t want Chewie to feel replaced in any way,” the co-host said. While checking on Lena in her crate one night, Ripa said, ”Chewie was outside the [Lena’s] crate, sitting next to her with their noses together.”

Kelly explained that the pup’s name Lena came about because it’s close to her name in the shelter, Angelina. Supposedly, Ripa’s three kids, 23-year-old Michael, 19-year-old Lola, and 18-year-old Joaquin wanted a different name for their new friend.

“My kids want her to be named Leia, as in Princess Leia, because we have Chewie. I don‘t know. I need guidance,” Ripa explained on yesterday’s show.