Blue Sky Puppies: Read This Before You Buy

This site is not affiliated with Blue Sky Puppies or blueskypuppies.com. It is an independent consumer warning page built from government records, news reports, public complaints and published reviews. Every claim below is attributed to its source, and the sources are linked at the bottom of the page.

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Independent Analysis

Puppies deserve better.

The Short Version

Blue Sky Puppies is a retail puppy store chain that has operated in Clearwater, Fla., Clermont, Fla., and Goodlettsville, Tenn. The Clearwater store no longer exists. In July 2025, Pinellas County Animal Services revoked its pet dealer permit after investigators found 177 puppies on site, sick animals housed with healthy ones, employees with no veterinary training diagnosing and treating illness, and records showing dozens of puppies had been sent for cremation without the county ever being told. The county later put the number of unreported deaths at 71.

The two remaining stores are still selling. Complaints filed against the Clermont store as recently as July 2026 describe puppies that were sick within hours of purchase, one of which was euthanized five days after it went home.

Based on those findings and the pattern of consumer complaints described below, this site’s conclusion is simple: Blue Sky Puppies operates as a sales outlet for commercially bred puppies, with the conditions and outcomes that come with that business model. We urge you not to buy a puppy from any of its stores.

What Pinellas County Investigators Found

The following comes from a Pinellas County government news release dated July 21, 2025, and from reporting by the Tampa Bay Times, Fox 13, WTSP, WFLA, the St. Pete Catalyst and The Gabber.

The Complaint and the Inspection

Complaint Received

On July 9, 2025, Pinellas County Animal Services received a complaint that the Blue Sky Puppies store at 6160 Ulmerton Road had sold sick puppies and was keeping animals in unsanitary, crowded conditions.

177 Puppies

Officers arrived July 10 and counted 177 puppies at the store.

No Water

Officers documented kennels with empty water bottles and kennels with no water bottle or bowl at all.

34 in Small Kennels

Thirty-four puppies were in kennels that were too small.

Sick Puppies Together

Multiple sick puppies were housed together in the same enclosures.

Puppies in the isolation ward were kept too close to healthy puppies.

Untrained Staff Practicing Medicine

Officers asked for veterinary records for 23 puppies being kept in isolation.

The store manager told officers that staff diagnose the puppies and begin treating them themselves, even though no staff member holds a veterinary degree.

The Missing Yorkie

A treatment sheet in the isolation area showed three days of care for a Yorkie puppy, but the puppy was not in the store.
Staff said the puppy had died and had been taken to a local veterinary hospital for cremation.
When officers followed up with that hospital, they learned Blue Sky Puppies had turned in dozens of deceased puppies for cremation over the previous two years.
The store had never notified the county of those deaths and could not produce veterinary records on request. Both are required under Pinellas County Code.

The Outcome

The county cited the permit holder for violations of Code Section 14-29, Retail Pet Store Regulations, and Section 14-36, Animal Care and Manner of Keeping. County officials described the total as an overwhelming number of violations.

Permit Revoked

The county revoked the store’s pet dealer permit and gave the owner five days to move all puppies out of Pinellas County.

Prior Violations

The store had previously been cited in 2024 for not having official certificates of veterinary inspection for five puppies. Fox 13 reported the county’s case file also showed several earlier complaints about animal care and health at the store, though officers had not documented violations on those visits.

Rare for the County

Jennifer Renner, director of Pinellas County Animal Services, told the St. Pete Catalyst that the county had recorded only one other animal welfare violation at any pet store in the previous two years, and that the owner could face criminal charges.

No Comment

Fox 13 reported that when its crew approached people unloading crates at the store, they made an obscene gesture and shut the door, and the company never responded to the station’s request for comment.

71 Unreported Puppy Deaths

When the permit was first revoked, the county said only that dozens of puppies had been cremated without notice. By December 2025, the number was public. Renner told county commissioners that investigators had uncovered 71 unreported puppy deaths at the Clearwater store over roughly two years, according to reporting by WUSF and the St. Pete Catalyst. Bay News 9 reported the figure as more than 70.

Think about what that means. A single storefront sent more than 70 dead puppies to a crematorium and told no one. Buyers walking through that store had no way to know. The county’s inspection system had no way to know, because the store simply did not file the reports the law required.

Over the same period, according to Q105 and WiLD 94.1, Pinellas County Animal Services handed out nearly 400 citations to retail pet stores. The Blue Sky investigation was the case that drove that number.

Every puppy matters.

The County Changed Its Laws Because of This Store

On Dec. 16, 2025, the Pinellas County Commission voted unanimously to tighten its pet store ordinance. Coverage from WUSF, WFLA, Fox 13, WTSP and Bay News 9 all tie the new rules directly to the Blue Sky Puppies investigation. The changes include:

Unannounced inspections doubled from once a year to twice a year.

Puppy deaths must be reported within three days instead of 15, and a necropsy is required if the animal received no veterinary care.

Solid flooring required in at least half of all kennels.

Formal protocols for quarantine, veterinary care, cleaning and sanitation.

Certificates of veterinary inspection and pet lemon law notices must be displayed where customers can see them, and records must be uploaded to a county portal.

A cruelty or neglect citation now triggers a seven-day permit suspension and a follow-up inspection within three business days.

When a county rewrites its animal welfare code in response to one business, that tells you how serious the findings were. Renner told commissioners the severity of the Blue Sky violations justified strengthening the ordinance.

Who Is Behind the Stores

Clearwater, FL

Store Closed

Pet dealer permit revoked July 2025

Clermont, FL

Still Operating

Complaints filed as recently as July 2026

Goodlettsville, TN

Still Operating

According to the St. Pete Catalyst, Florida business records list a Sarasota company, Cindy’s Florida LLC, as the registered agent for Blue Sky Puppies LLC, and a Wyoming-addressed company, Great Pets Five Star Investment LLC, as the authorized person. The Clermont store operates under a separate entity, Blue Sky Puppies of Orlando LLC. The Better Business Bureau lists three addresses for that entity: the Clermont storefront, a Sarasota address on North Tamiami Trail, and a registered agent address in Sheridan, Wyo.

Layered LLCs and out-of-state registered agents are common in this industry. They make it harder for a buyer with a dead puppy to figure out who to hold responsible. A BBB complainant stated that the business has changed names several times and that a store employee said she did not know who the owner was. That is a customer’s account and has not been independently verified, but it is consistent with the corporate structure on file.

The company’s own website describes it as an exclusive puppy store chain in Orlando and Nashville that sources from a network of USDA-licensed breeders. It does not name those breeders.

Consumer Complaints, Store by Store

The Better Business Bureau has recorded seven complaints against the Clearwater entity and nine against the Clermont entity in the past three years. Neither business is BBB accredited. The accounts below are summarized from those public complaints, with the company’s public responses noted where it gave one. The BBB does not verify complaint contents, and neither can we, but the consistency across two stores and three years speaks for itself.

Clearwater Store (Blue Sky Puppies LLC)

December 2024. A buyer took a puppy to the vet 36 hours after purchase and learned it had parvo and anemia. The vet said the puppy had been sick for some time and might not survive. The buyer had already paid $1,650 in vet bills and worried that other puppies in the store were infected. The company never responded to the BBB.
December 2024. A buyer’s Chihuahua was found to have a costly birth defect at the first vet visit. The buyer sent everything the warranty department asked for and never heard from them again. The company never responded to the BBB.
May 2024. A buyer’s miniature dachshund started sneezing green mucus within a day. The vet diagnosed an upper respiratory infection, said the puppy was severely undernourished, and said it was not a purebred dachshund. The buyer could not reach anyone with authority.
March 2024. A buyer’s puppy was diagnosed with patellar luxation requiring surgery. The buyer said she emailed the warranty department the day after diagnosis and followed up four more times over 19 days before getting a response, while the dog cried in pain. She said she was told the company only communicates by email and that she should wait 15 business days. The company said the buyer had surgery done before it approved the claim and that its obligation was capped at the purchase price.
March 2024. A buyer visited the store and noticed a husky with green mucus and a cough. She said the salesperson assured her it was fine and steered her to a golden retriever instead. The golden retriever was diagnosed days later with an upper respiratory infection and an undescended testicle, and an X-ray found two staples in its stomach. The buyer’s refund request was denied.
January 2024. A buyer purchased a puppy advertised as a miniature poodle. The buyer tracked down the breeder listed on the paperwork, who said the puppy in her photo was not the one the buyer received and that she had sold the puppy to a third party, who apparently resold it to Blue Sky. The store’s own recommended vet put in writing that the dog was not a purebred poodle. The buyer’s call to a manager was never returned.
November 2023. A buyer returned a vomiting corgi less than 24 hours after purchase. The buyer said the store kept the dog, showed a pending refund on a phone screen, then canceled the refund after the buyer left. The company said the refund and loan cancellation were processed.

Clermont Store (Blue Sky Puppies of Orlando LLC)

July 2026. A buyer purchased a Cavapoo on June 24, 2026, for $1,744.10. The puppy had diarrhea within hours and was vomiting the next day. The buyer said the store’s designated vet had no appointment until June 29, and that when she brought the deteriorating puppy back to the store, no veterinarian was available and she was offered only the option of returning the puppy and picking another one later. She got care elsewhere. The puppy was hospitalized in critical condition and euthanized June 29, five days after purchase. Vet bills totaled $3,822.84. The buyer delivered a formal claim in person on July 3 and by email and reported receiving no substantive response. As of this writing the company has not responded to the BBB.
July 2026. A buyer purchased a Bichon Frise on May 7, 2026, for about $2,300. The puppy had digestive problems within days. The buyer said the store’s recommended vet had no availability within the two-day window the contract required, and that a store employee told her the delay would not be a problem. Lab tests confirmed giardia, cryptosporidium and coccidia, and the buyer’s other dog, healthy before, became infected too. The company denied the claim by citing the 14-day warranty window, then offered $266.57 as a courtesy. The BBB lists the complaint as unresolved.
July 2025. A buyer purchased a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for $2,134.65 and was told the puppy’s three hernias had been fully repaired. The store’s own recommended vet found all three repairs had failed. A second vet and then the clinic’s medical director confirmed the hernia and quoted $1,200 for surgery. The buyer had photos from before and after the sale showing the bulge. The company cited a no-return, no-refund clause and told the buyer to get an unfit-for-sale certificate. The BBB lists the complaint as unresolved.
July 2025. A buyer said the warranty department approved reimbursement for vet bills on a sick puppy, then took more than a month to pay while offering excuses.
June 2025. A buyer purchased a puppy in January 2025 on a payment plan. The puppy had kennel cough at the first vet visit. The buyer said the dog drank compulsively, which she attributed to the store watering puppies from hamster-style bottles, and it suffered water intoxication more than once. The puppy died May 31, 2025. The buyer asked for the loan payments to be dropped. The company said water intoxication was the buyer’s fault and declined. The BBB lists the complaint as unresolved.
June 2025. A buyer who had already purchased a puppy reported the store called repeatedly to sell her another one, even after she asked to be removed from the list.
November 2024. A buyer said the store’s designated vet was two and a half hours away, so she was promised reimbursement for using her own. She submitted the paperwork and got a form email about her sick puppy, though the puppy was not sick. Repeated calls went nowhere.
February 2024. A buyer said a phone representative and the store employee both told her a terrier was AKC registered. The paperwork turned out to be ACA, a lower-tier registry. She paid $2,200 and said the financing carried an interest rate she believed was not legal. The company said the registration type was listed on its website.
December 2023. A buyer’s puppy developed health problems within a day or two. The vet found a parasite and three respiratory infections. The buyer paid $581.70 out of pocket and said his attempts to submit vet bills were ignored until he disputed the charge with his credit card company.

A Puppy That Died of Liver Shunt

A BBB review of the Clermont store, separate from the complaints above, describes a puppy purchased Nov. 15, 2024, that became lethargic within a month. Two vets said it was very sick, and a specialist diagnosed a liver shunt. The puppy died in January 2025. The buyer said the specialist told her the dog was not a surgical candidate and would not have survived the operating table. Another review on the same page, titled Total Ripoff, said staff push a stack of forms across the counter and say sign here without explaining any of it.

What Reviewers Say

Public reviews on Google, Yelp and Yahoo Local are mixed for the Clermont store and sharply negative for the Tennessee store. The company’s website features only positive reviews, which is its right, but that is not the full picture.

Goodlettsville, Tenn., Store

One reviewer called the conditions animal cruelty, described sad puppies in small plexiglass containers packed close together, and said the store should be shut down immediately.
Another described the dogs as backyard-bred, said they looked sick, and said the store was hot with barely any ventilation for the animals.
Another described picking out a puppy and being given a quote one evening, then having the experience fall apart.

Clermont, Fla., Store

Many reviews of the Clermont store praise the cleanliness of the showroom and the friendliness of individual salespeople. That is worth reading carefully. Several of the complaints above also say the store itself seemed fine and the staff were nice. The problems start after the puppy leaves the building and the warranty department takes over. A clean showroom and a friendly salesperson tell you nothing about where a puppy was born, how its parents are kept, or whether the company will honor its warranty when the puppy gets sick.

A comment on the store’s own Facebook page in September 2026 reads, in short, that Blue Sky messed up. Videos criticizing the company circulate on TikTok under puppy mill and sick puppy hashtags.

The Pattern

Read the complaints together and the same things come up over and over, at both stores, across three years:

Puppies sick within hours or days. Parvo, giardia, coccidia, cryptosporidium, kennel cough, upper respiratory infections, parasites. These are diseases of crowded, stressed young animals.
Congenital defects at the first vet visit. Hernias, patellar luxation, liver shunt, undescended testicles. These are what you get from breeding for volume instead of health.
A designated vet that is hard to reach. Buyers describe the store’s required vet being hours away or having no appointments inside the contract’s two-day window, then being penalized for the delay.
A warranty department that goes quiet. Buyers describe form emails, 15-business-day waits, repeated unreturned calls and claims that are approved and then not paid.
Financing that outlives the dog. Several buyers financed through the store’s partner lender and were left making payments on puppies that had died.
Breed and registration questions. Buyers report being told a dog was purebred or AKC and learning otherwise from the breeder, the vet or the paperwork.
Purebred puppies passing through middlemen. One buyer traced her poodle back to a breeder who had never sold to Blue Sky at all, and who had sold to a third party who resold the dog. That is how broker networks work.

Why We Call It a Puppy Mill Outlet

Blue Sky Puppies does not breed dogs. It buys puppies from outside breeders and resells them, and its website says those breeders are USDA licensed. A USDA license is a minimum legal standard for commercial breeders, not a mark of quality. Animal welfare organizations have documented for years that USDA-licensed facilities can keep dogs in wire cages for their entire lives and still pass inspection.

The county’s findings in Clearwater show the retail end of that supply chain: 177 puppies in one storefront, sick animals mixed with healthy ones, employees playing veterinarian, and 71 deaths that were never reported. The complaints from Clermont show the same supply chain still running in 2026, with puppies arriving in homes already carrying parasites and infections and, in at least one case, dying within the week.

In our view, that is exactly what a puppy mill sales operation looks like. You are entitled to reach your own conclusion, and the sources are linked below so you can.

If You Already Bought a Puppy From Blue Sky

Take the puppy to an independent veterinarian right away. Do not wait for an appointment with the store’s designated vet if your puppy is sick, and do not let anyone tell you the delay will not matter. Get it in writing if they do.
Florida’s Pet Lemon Law, Florida Statute 828.29, gives you the right to a refund, an exchange or reimbursement of vet costs if a contagious or infectious disease is diagnosed within 14 days of purchase, or a congenital or hereditary condition within one year. A no-refund clause in a contract does not cancel that law.
Put every request to the company in writing and keep copies of all vet records, photos, receipts and messages. Timestamped photos of your puppy on the day of purchase have made the difference in more than one dispute.
If you financed the puppy, contact the lender directly and in writing. Keep your own records of what the store tells you about loan cancellations.
File a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s consumer protection division and with the Better Business Bureau.
For the Clermont store, report animal welfare concerns to Lake County Animal Services. For the Tennessee store, contact Sumner County Animal Control.
Pinellas County Animal Services can be reached at 727-582-2600, option 4, if you bought from the Clearwater store before it closed.

Better Options

If you want a specific breed, contact the breed’s national parent club for referrals to breeders who will let you visit their home, meet the mother, and show health testing on both parents. A responsible breeder will ask you as many questions as you ask them and will not sell a puppy to someone who walked in an hour ago. If you are open to any dog, shelters and breed rescues across Central Florida and Tampa Bay regularly have puppies and young dogs available, and Hillsborough and Pasco counties banned retail puppy sales in 2020 for the same reasons described on this page.

Sources

Government

News Coverage of the Clearwater Shutdown

News Coverage of the December 2025 Ordinance

Complaints and Reviews

Informed consumers help protect puppies.

This page summarizes public records, published news reports and publicly posted consumer complaints and reviews. Complaint and review contents reflect the accounts of the people who posted them. Statements labeled as opinion are the opinion of this site’s author. This site is not affiliated with Blue Sky Puppies. If you have documentation of your own experience with this company, we would like to hear from you.

Last updated September 2026.