Hello Everyone,
I searched but couldn't find any topics that I thought were similar to mine. Please let me know if there are.

My dog is an 8 month old German Shepherd with a longer coat.

I was removing my dogs flat collar yesterday and when I felt around her neck I could feel something rough on her skin completely surrounding her neck. I thought it might be ticks because we live close to the woods but when I looked closer under her coat there were these black scabs that were covering portions of her neck. One of them fell off and you could see on her skin where the scab fell off because the skin was raw.

I have been trying to think of what might cause it. She has her flat collar on most of the day and we also use a dominant dog collar and a prong collar when we go on walks. She eats EVO dog food and she also received Vectra 3D flea and tick medicine that I apply to her neck and back. The other thing that I thought was bizarre was the fact that she didn't have any reaction when I was looking through her coat and when I touched one of the areas.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to provide as much info as possible. I made a vet. appointment but can't get in till Monday so I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas of what it may be. I tried taking pictures of it but none of the pictures were very clear.

Thanks,
Chris

What is the flat collar made of?


eta
Also, is the DD collar just backup? And the prong collar is in a different (higher) spot, correct? That is, only the flat collar touches the area you are finding raw?


Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/10/2010 02:11 PM)
Edit reason: eta

I'm just thinking out loud here but perhaps the collar itself is causing the problem? Wet hot humid air trapped under a collar is a breeding ground for bacteria and I can't think of many places as wet hot and humid as Florida.

The flat collar is made of leather.

The DD collar is used as backup because we had the Prong break on us one time. The prong and the DD are no where near where the irritation is so I do not think it is that because we have them both sitting up high.

The first thing I thought was that it might be some kind of bacteria or infection because it seems to line up with her flat collar but I wasn't sure if that could be a possibility. She has never had this before so I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

I have checked the flat collar also to see if the part touching her skin was dirty but it looks pretty clean.

Sounds like some type of skin infection to me as well. Could be bacterial, fungal, allergic, parasitic or hormonal. Best bet is to consult your vet.

I see this alot on dogs I groom. It is usually some form of dermatitis relating to allergies.

Kasey gets this sometimes because he has environmental allergies. Watch and see if you ever catch him scratching around his neck, then you'll know if they are itchy or not. We thought at first it might the collars, but it just wasn't in the right spot. The derma vet said this is a common place for skin allergies to show themselves.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just wanted to give you an update.

I took her to the Vet and the vet also thought it had something to do with the collar and was some sort of infection. She gave me some antibiotics and suggested I look into a new flat collar because that might have had something to do with the problem.

She also suggested I keep the collar off more often because of the humidity in Florida so I will definitely take that advice.

I always appreciate this site because you all have so much good advice and experience. Thanks again!