Any other pets in the house?

Can you describe her "skin problems"?
Is she scratching only in one area of her body, or is she rubbing her eyes and face and nibbling at her feet?

Is she losing hair?

Thanks for your fast response!

I also have a pug, with no health or skin problems in the least.

This poor lab is losing hair in spots, all over body, but only in places where she scratches or chews. Her coat looks terrible, like she's molting. A definite red bump raises and starts the itch, almost like a blister. Eyes and face are fine, not affected.

Is this of any help?

I have a cat which gets bumps, like scabs, was told it was flea related, but gosh, we put Advantage on the them every month. The dog and other cat do not have that problem. And I have never seen a flea on any of them or in the house.
Plus our house has been treated via the Pest Control Service, and we have no rugs, just bare floors which get vacuumed frequently.

My dog did, suddenly, at age 7, develop very itchy skin, with dandruff, it has been under control by giving him a tablespoon of olive oil every day or so.

Although vet said she thought flea bites, I have both dogs on comfortis just to prove that isn't the issue. And it's not really even flea season here, there is 4" of snow on the ground, lol.

Allergy vet had me replace the fish oil I was adding to home made food with canola oil, but her skin is dry and dandruffy too. Labs usually have a bit of oil to their coat. I was told that was do to home heating drying her out.

All very frustrating trying to figure out. We have a well with very good tasting water, but I even bought bottled water for her for a month to see if there was something to it.

Actually, you helped me think it....winter and gas heating here, that is when our guy's coat went bad.
Hmmm..gas heat....

There are supplements, liquid or tabs, for improving a dogs coat.
I have read the ingredients, nothing in them that we cannot provide cheaper ourselves.
But, if you are interested, I do get some things from:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/dog-supplies/skin-and-coat-health/ps/c/3307/12558
and
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/dog-supplies/itchy-dog-skin/ps/c/3307/20813

altho their itchy skin supplies seem to treat the symptoms, not the cause.

I also remember that way back when, the dog got what looked like ecxzema on his belly, and the vet treated him with an anti-biotic, plus spray on cortisone ( Cortisaid, it said)
Said Cortisaid/cortisone spray is non-prescription from pet supply places.

there is a new claritin formula that melts instantly, so it is very easy to give a dog.

She gets "hot spots," and it seems seasonal (like an indoor allergy).

The vet gave us a list of over-the-counter human antihistamines safe for dogs, with recommended dosage for her size (= size huge). That usually manages it, and when it doesn't, she goes on run of steroids as a last resort.

That has not been suggested to me before. I would be more than willing to give it a shot though. Could you tell me from your list what I might try for an 80lb dog?

Thank you for your suggestion!

about 12 hours apart.
The rule of thumb is 1 mg for every 10# weight, but our 80# beast is also a not very active dog, 50 seems to work just fine.
I know it is time to give him some when he starts chewing and licking on his paws and/or rubbing his face.
Which started about 2 weeks ago, as our temps warmed up and pollen started flying.

the Benedryl makes him sluggish, so we know not to demand a marathon after he takes it. Even drugged, he does manage to do his watchdog bellowing just fine.

I'm afraid I can't recommend a dosage since my dog is much smaller, but he seems to have seasonal allergies (with a rash, and itching), and they do help.

We change them just so her system doesn't get used to one or another and then have them lose efficacy. Also, our vet (a GSD enthusiast herself) tells us that antihistamines can be a safe, lifelong maintenance drug.

Right now we're giving her Zyrtec (generic) and a CVS "Allergy Tablet". Both are quite cheap. We've used several others over the years, too. We don't have the list Sparkly mentioned any more, but listed pretty much every antihistamine on the market. Approximate the human dosage to the size of your dog and that's it. We give a full size adult dose to the GSD because she is unusually large at nearly 100 lbs.

We're lucky that our dog is a complaint type. She takes her pills straight now, with no fuss at all. I use my left thumb and index finger to get under her lips and grab her gums just behind her upper canines. I have the pill in my right hand, gently pull down her jaw with one finger, and put the pill as far down her throat as possible. I then close her jaw, seal her lips, hold her jaw shut, and blow gently into her nose. This causes a swallow, and voila! Pill Down!

I use the same technique with the other dogs and it always works. Just be gentle and talk soothingly.

Even with this treatment, she still gets occasional hot spots, although not for a year or so now. I use an over the counter hot spot spray for relief when it happens, but we get steroids if the event is severe. At its worst, this was twice in one winter season. Apart from that, it has been once a season or not at all for steroids. The doc says there's a small risk for long term problems, but probably acceptable given the alternative.

I hope this helps!

I bought some bynadryl last night after reading everyone's postings and will give that a try. 80lb dog and easy enough to give 3-25mg pills to.

Thank you all, lots of knowledgeable doggie people on here!

even for vets. Dogs often present with skin problems for all kinds of things whether an allergy or something else. Allergies can be a special pain in the butt trying to figure out which things are the problem and then how to go about eliminating the problem especially when the allergens aren't possible to eliminate... pollen, dust, etc.

I'm not sure going through all the testing for environmental allergies when it's so expensive is really the best route especially since it's really rare that the culprit (or several culprits) is going to be something that it's possible to eliminate. First thing to do would be to find out for certain whether this is an allergy or something else, so I'd visit a dermatological vet specialist first. But even for them it's not always so easy to pinpoint exactly what the problem is.

If it's definitely an allergy then the next thing is to figure out whether or not it's a food allergy or an environmental allergy. My derm vet specialist has told me that with food allergies a single month isn't long enough to pinpoint the problem food... it can take as much as four or more months to see a change after eliminating the problem food (which is part of what makes pinpointing the problem foods such a damn hassle sometimes).

What's more important is getting some kind of relief for the dog (which I'm quite positive is exactly what you want). You may never know exactly what environmental allergies are the culprits, but does it matter so long as the dog gets relief especially when the culprits are not something you can eliminate like pollen, dust, molds, etc.?

What I would do (and have done in the past) is visit a derm vet specialist to help at least narrow down what the problem is. They can determine whether it's some sort of allergy or some other kind of issue like fleas or sebacous addenitis or various other health problems that can present as a skin problem. Then that information can be used to figure out how best to treat the dog. If it's nothing more than fleas then the fleas from the dog and the dog's environment need to be eliminated and the dog protected from other fleas. If it's a food allergy, it may take months of a strict diet to figure out which foods may be the culprit. If it's an environmental allergy there likely isn't much of anything that can be done other than trying to minimize the culprits or possible culprits and using medications that can help them. If it's just dry skin or a behavioral problem then you can figure out what treatments would help with that.

Like I said, skin problems can be just baffling and a big old pain in the rear to figure out and deal with. Best of luck with trying to figure this out and help your doggie! I know myself how frustrating and expensive this can be, so I really sympathize.