North Carolina family claims Craigslist puppy was infested with fleas

HIGH POINT, North Carolina -- If you visit the Rains' home on a Sunday morning, you'll find a toddler playing with trains, a 7-month-old moving and shaking across the floor, and a furry white flash zig-zagging after toys.

"I really wanted a puppy and had been bugging my husband forever," Mom Cassidy Rains said. "Finally, he said fine."

Cassidy told WGHP that she immediately began searching online for the perfect puppy. It wasn't long before she came across a Craigslist ad out of Tennessee for a white Siberian husky and began her research.

"The ad on Craigslist actually just had a Facebook page on there, and I went to the page and looked around a lot because I wanted to make sure she was fairly reputable since she was cheaper than most of the other Huskies."

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After driving five hours to the breeder in Philadelphia, Tennessee, she said it didn't take her long to understand why.

"She was so lethargic, I don't think she wanted to put her down so we could see it," Rains said. "There were so many her skin was just black and she's a white dog."

Infested with hundreds of fleas, most of them dead, Rains explained. When she asked the breeder why the dog was in such a state, she said the woman apologized but said "the fleas have been bad this year."

Concerned about the conditions the dog could face if she left it there, Rains said she left with it as quickly as she could.

After more than a week, several flea treatments, and lots of love, the all-white puppy, Ghost, is doing much better.

"I see a light in her, she lights up like a Christmas tree," Rains said.