Relief in winter is a big signal to me that this is not food, but environmental. What's missing in your climate in winter? Must be some seasonal pollen or mold. My allergic Corgi has no symptoms after the first frost here.

Flaking, as far as I am aware, isn't a common allergic reaction, specifically. Sounds more like a secondary fungal or bacterial infection on the skin. Is it greasy and flaky or dry and flaky?

Tracy,
I don't know what is around in summer verses winter.
She was doing so good this spring, until this flaking started.

I really was patting myself on the back for making much progress.

Her coat is very short even for this breed, very little hair on legs and belly.
It doesn't seem greasy, but then it may be just hard to tell with so little of it.

I have never thought it was a food allergy, but the vets at my clinic say that's what the derm vets always look at first.

Have an appointment June 3. I will be relieved to have this mystery solved!

Thanks for all your input. It is very valuable to talk to people who have gone before you.

Just went through all this myself - frustrating! Here are a few thoughts that we learned from our derma vet:

1. Fleas are HUGE in an allergy dog - even if they have environmental stuff also, one flea bite in an allergy dog will cause a lot of itching, biting, infection cycles. In my dog's case, we have had to put Frontline on, wait 2 weeks, give Comfortis, two weeks later, the Frontline again, etc. That way, as one flea control product is starting to wear off in it's last week of the month, you still have the other one going strong. I know it's not our first choice to use flea products, but it may be necessary for an allergy dog or he'll be miserable and you will be sick of vet trips and meds!

2. Food allergies count for less than 10% of allergy problems. The derma vet should be able to look at the dog and know by the locations of the skin problems, whether a food allergy is even a possibility. Our derma said an elimination diet was our choice, but she didn't think it was food. We did it for a while just to make sure, but it didn't help at all. They like to use one of their 'hypoallergenic' prescription formulas (i.e. kangaroo and oats) It's expensive! I would rather do a homemade if possible, if you have to do elimination.

The derma vet says to pretend you have a belt around the dog's waist so they are separated in 2 halves. Which half of the body is affected? The front half (head half), is always involved in environmental allergies. Most of the time, if it's only the back half, then fleas are usually a big culprit - especially on the rump and underside of the tail. Food allergies affect face, mouth and ears most commonly - and food intolerances can also cause digestive problems like loose stools, vomiting, etc. Those are general guidelines that the derma vets use to evaluate and find a place to start. They will ask you to rate the itching on the body halves on a scale of 1 to 10 - 10 is they are waking in the night more than just a couple of times to bite and scratch. So it's good to have all that thought about in advance!

Just one other thing - our vet gave us the Genesis spray too, but said to only use it on his paws (between the pads of his feet), because it's a very strong cortisone and will cause other skin on their body to thin, which causes other nasty problems! Just something to ask about!

Hope all goes well at the derma vet! It's so worth it to go and let someone else tell you what's going on so you can stop guessing! Make sure to let us know what they say!