An East Bay family’s longtime dog, a rat terrier named Rufus, passed away earlier this year.
The family added a new addition a few days later from a San Francisco rescue – another rat terrier. And then, everyone was in for a big surprise.
It all started earlier this year when an East Bay family lost their beloved Rufus, which they adopted years ago, as an East Bay rescue from the San Francisco SPCA.
After they lost him, they went online, and that’s when they saw another rat terrier mix at San Francisco’s Muttville.
It’s a senior dog named Ziggy, which had uncanny similarities to Rufus when they met him. So they took him home. When Ziggy started reminding them even more of their old dog, they dug a little deeper and did a DNA test. It turns out Ziggy is Rufus’ father.
“All of our heads kind of exploded, you know?” said Matthew Reiff, part of the family who adopted Ziggy.
The development even left the CEO and founder of Muttville, Sherri Franklin, in shock.
“It’s the craziest story in all of the dogs, all of the rescues we’ve ever done,” Franklin said. “I thought I’d seen it all.”
While Ziggy won’t fully understand the magnitude of the personal connection, it provided the Reiff family with a special moment they’ll never forget.
“It’s just a completely improbable and wonderful story of getting good news when we needed it the most,” said Jillian Reiff.
Watch the full story from NBC Bay Area’s Gia Vang in the video player above.
