Kelly Ripa Adopts Rescue Dog Featured on ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan’

Kelly Ripa’s family just grew by one adorable four-legged member! During Tuesday’s episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, the mom-of-three announced that “the Consueloses have made a decision to adopt Lena,” the Maltese-Shih Tzu mix that was featured as an adoptable pet on the talk show’s Happy Pets segment earlier this month. The new family member joins Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos’ other dog, Chewie.

During the episode, Ripa showed fans several photos of Lena adjusting to her new surroundings and admitted that when making the decision to bring Lena home, she initially had concerns that she “didn’t want Chewie to feel replaced in any way.” According to Ripa, she ended up recruiting the help of friend and dog trainer Andrea Arden who the host joked “was training me” and has helped with crate training Lena. Ripa said her worries about how Chewie would react to having another pet in the house were quelled when she went to check on how Lena was doing in her crate “Chewie was outside the crate, sitting next to her with their noses together.”

Saying that it has been “really exciting” to welcome a new pet into their home, Ripa also opened up about how the Conesulos family, including her three children – Michael, 23, Lola, 19, and Joaquin, 18 – settled on a name. Before being adopted, Lena’s name at the shelter was Angelina. The family opted to go with Lena because they didn’t “want to radically change her name.” Ripa’s kids, however, are now wanting to change her name again and “want her to be named Leia, as in Princess Leia, because we have Chewie.” Co-host Ryan Seacrest pointed out that “your kids aren’t going to be there for most of her life,” as the newest family members arrive as Ripa and Consuelos prepare to have an empty nest. Michael graduated virtually from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts last spring, and Lola is currently a sophomore at NYU. The couple’s youngest, meanwhile, has committed to the University of Michigan, where he will join the school’s wrestling team.

Ripa left viewers with a parting message on Tuesday, encouraging them to adopt. She said, “if you’re thinking about getting a dog, call your local animal shelter. Those dogs are just dreams.” Ripa’s adoption of Lena comes after Live‘s executive producer Michael Gelman adopted Lena’s brother Billie, who was also featured on the show. PEOPLE reports that in total, the Live staff has adopted 16 dogs and one rabbit featured on the show and has also helped find homes for hundreds of other shelter pets.