If you’ve watched any local TV news or checked Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok the past few days, you’ve probably seen the headlines about an Alameda family who lost their beloved dog, then adopted an older one that looked a lot like him, and discovered that the new dog was their beloved deceased dog’s biological father.
The story went viral, of course. And it happened right here in Alameda. It’s a welcome break from the ceaseless barrage of negative news we get every day.
[1]It started when Jillian Reiff adopted Rufus, a half-Chihuahua, half-rat terrier from the San Francisco SPCA back in 2016—and she adored him. He was there for everything, she said.
“When my husband and I got married at City Hall, he was in our pictures,” Reiff told ABC7 News [2]. “He was the first to meet both of our kids.”
[3]Then, in May 2025, Rufus suddenly died from a gallbladder issue. He was 15. Reiff and her family were devastated.
“It felt like the most profound loss you can imagine. It was gut-wrenching. It was terrible,” Reiff told KTVU News [4].
A day or two after Rufus died, Reiff’s daughter Maya saw a photo of an older dog that looked almost exactly like Rufus on the Muttville senior dog adoption center’s Instagram page and showed it to her mom.
“She showed it to me and said, ‘Mom, look, it looks like Rufus,’” Reiff said.
Reiff couldn’t stop thinking about it. Freshly grieving, she didn’t know if she was ready to bring home another dog, but she had to meet him. Four days later, she and her family went to Muttville to meet the dog and see for themselves. The resemblance was uncanny.
“It was just kismet that they looked alike,” Reiff told ABC7 News. “I think the longer I sat with him. There was a feeling I could not explain.” She immediately adopted the dog, named him Ziggy, and brought him home to Alameda.
[5]“He felt like a gift, Reiff said. “Seeing his happy face reminded us so much of our beloved boy, it brought peace to a house that had been crying for days.”
Ziggy settled into his new home right away. “He waltzed through our door like he had been there his whole life,” Reiff said. Their elderly pup Petey, immediately bonded with Ziggy, just like he had with Rufus.
Reiff was convinced that Ziggy and Rufus were related, so she got a DNA test for Ziggy, as she had for Rufus.
“They were an identical DNA match,” Reiff said. “Ziggy was actually Rufus’s biological father. And they share a good chunk of their DNA. I screamed! I screamed at my job, in my conference room! I almost passed out!”
Muttville CEO and founder Sherri Franklin was shocked as well. “I thought I’d heard everything,” she said. “It’s wild. Almost unbelievable!”
[6]The dogs’ lives had diverged long ago, according to Muttville. While Rufus had been adopted from the San Francisco SPCA nine years earlier, Ziggy was recently found as a stray from Contra Costa Animal services and transferred to Muttville. Many miles and a decade later, they were adopted by the same family.
“There is no science I can find to explain this,” Jillian says, “only kismet.”
The Reiffs are still in shock and ever-so-grateful, according to all accounts. “We have cried many times… this time in unadulterated joy,” Reiff said.