ALAMEDA, Calif. – An Alameda family was left in shock after learning from a DNA test that their newly adopted dog is the father of their dog that died a few months ago.

Rufus was a half-Chihuahua, half-rat terrier who learned how to say, “I love you.” And he was loved.

Jillian Reiff adopted Rufus from the San Francisco SPCA in 2016. He was there for her engagement, wedding, childbirth, and a new home in Alameda.

“He was always the dog that greeted, and I don’t think there was an event that Rufus was not there for,” Reiff told KTVU on Tuesday.

Family heartbroken by death of dog Rufus

The backstory:

But in April, Rufus died without warning from a gallbladder issue at age 15. Reiff and her family were devastated.

“It felt like the most profound loss you can imagine. It was gut-wrenching. It was terrible,” she said.

Family adopts new dog with uncanny similarities

What they’re saying:

On the night Rufus passed, Reiff’s daughter happened to see a photo of a dog on the website of Muttville, a senior dog rescue in San Francisco.

“She showed it to me and said, ‘Mom, look, it looks like Rufus,’” Reiff said.

Within days, the family went to Muttville just to take a look.

“And his happy, wonky, sideways little trot—just my heart sunk, because it was like I was looking at our dog,” Reiff recalled.

The family immediately adopted Ziggy, four days after Rufus died. Like Rufus, Ziggy is half-Chihuahua, half-rat terrier.

“The uncanny nature of their personality traits being identical—not just similar—identical, every day and hour that passed,” Reiff said.

Both dogs liked lying next to the kids, and they’re both very vocal.

Surprise DNA test result

What we know:

Floored by the similarities and bursting with curiosity, Reiff decided to get a DNA test last month. The results were stunning.

“It said that they were an identical DNA match and that Ziggy was actually the biological father of Rufus,” she said.

Like father, like son.

“It’s like a Hollywood scriptwriter wrote it,” said Sherri Franklin, Muttville’s founder. “It’s rare that any of us get a second opportunity to be with their soulmate dog after they pass away, I mean, what a gift and a blessing that is.”

Reiff said, “I think he knows he was always meant to be here, and that this last chapter of his life, which we are incredibly blessed to spend with him, he knows that he’s in the right place.”