Some connections come only once in a lifetime, but for the Reiff family, it came twice.
"I don't think there was more of a true example of love at first sight," explained Jillian Reiff about her experience meeting her dog, Ziggy, back in April.
It was just days after losing Rufus, whom she described as her soul dog. Rufus was there for every milestone over the last decade of her life.
"We were engaged, and Rufus was there. He actually had the ring tied around his neck," Reiff said. "When my husband and I got married, he was there, he was wearing a little tux. And when we had our children, Maya and Benjamin, Rufus was actually the first family member to meet our kids, even before grandma."
Rufus passed away quickly and unexpectedly in April of a terminal illness.
That night he died, Reiff's 6-year-old daughter, Maya was looking at adoptable dogs. She stumbled upon Ziggy at Muttville in San Francisco and showed it to her mom.
"They both look like the same colors," said Maya, she showed it to her mom, asking why they both looked the same.
"Just in the state I was in, I looked at it and for a half second I thought she may have been in my phone's photo album because they just looked so similar," Reiff said, still with surprise in her voice.
Reiff couldn't stop thinking about Ziggy.
She agonized over his photo, visiting his profile hundreds of times over a few days, then she made an appointment at Muttville to meet him.
"When Ziggy trotted through that little gate with the adoption counselor and I could see he was slumpy and bumpy and old," Reiff detailed, describing Ziggy, who was called Memphis at Muttville. "He was a little wobbly—which is what Rufus was when we lost him. I didn't have any questions."
They committed to adopting him within minutes. They took him home, and the similarities became more and more obvious, including the way they communicated.
"We learned that probably hour two of him being here," said Reiff. "He was hungry, and we weren’t moving quick enough and then suddenly from the corner that very familiar warbling sound and my husband was like, ‘Oh my god, is that Ziggy’?"
It was Ziggy, sounding eerily similar to Rufus. Reiff decided to DNA test Ziggy, something they had done with Rufus back in 2017.
She was at work when she got the results. It confirmed they are both rat terrier-chihuahua mixes, but there was another tab that said "relatives."
She opened it to find a shocking result.
"That Rufus was Ziggy's son, and I was so panicked in that moment I think I probably shouted in that conference room," Reiff said, reliving thing moment. "There may have been an expletive, there was a lot of emotion."
Rufus was about 15 years old when he passed; they estimate Ziggy is 16 or even 17 years old.
Reiff later received paperwork that suggests Ziggy and Rufus may have been together before she adopted Rufus in 2016. Both dogs were neutered the same week at the San Francisco SPCA.
Reiff said she's grateful for this unexpected miracle.
"This doesn't make sense," said Reiff holding Ziggy. "And I have to be OK with that and just accept it as the amazing gift that it is."