Our Dudley (PBUH) used to develop that same skin condition all the time. Usually the vet prescribed antibiotics, but the Missus and I always wondered if it had something to do with his prescription diet food. Dudley was diabetic and required insulin injections twice a day, and we began to think that his food was causing a reaction that would allow yeast to produce skin infections. Now Gus is probably not diabetic, but it might be a yeast problem.

Wow, that was a seriously lame barnacle comment...sorry. :-)

Actually, looking for all the suggestions I can get. Want my boy looking his best - somebody's gotta look good around here - heh

I'm with DW and it may be the food he's eating is contributing to the problem. With our dog I believe I changed her food about 6 times over the course of 17 years. (we did Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, among others) She would go along fine for quite a while then suddenly she'd get very itchy. That was my signal to change what she was eating. We were very strict with her diet so table food was never an issue with her and she was a very healthy dog.

I know when the big Chinese ingredient fiasco happened with dog food, I found (just as I suspected all along) that dog food companies change ingredients in dog food periodically and without notice.

If you do change his food - do it gradually... a 1/4 of it at a time over a week with a few days between additions so there's no "tummy trouble". The other thing I recall is adding a tablespoon of oil for a few days although I can't swear to it after all this time. Good luck! Poor Gus - hope he gets to feeling better quickly!

Got him some coal tar shampoo - to treat his skin, and some moisturizing shampoo for after that. But I don't want to bathe him more than once every ten days to two weeks, that alone can dry him out.
The food is something to look into. I feed him Purina Pro Plan lamb and rice and chicken and rice - sometimes Purina One same flavors. My daughter's vet swears by them - my vet wants me to buy her expensive brand, though she didn't say anything about it this time...

Poor Gus! Hope he feels better soon...

Three of the first six named ingrediants are grains... plus rice: "Lamb, brewer's rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, chicken meal, oat meal..."

May be staph, may be he is developing an allergic reaction to the grains. I feed grain free Orijen.

Eliminating as much grain as possible from your dog food will definitely help. We've used the Pro Plan with our mixed-breed dog and had good results, but the Missus recently discovered a brand called Core Wellness that is even better (less grain) and makes our dog Buddy's coat look great...right before he sheds it all over the house, anyway. :-)

I'll check to see if I can find Core Wellness around here. I'll check on the Orijen too.

Jack eats cat turds and has the shinest coat ever. If you don't have a cat- get one. Or two. I have a couple I can mail you. I'll even put holes in the box. Cool crap cats!

Laura - Well, here's the problem with a cat - I am pretty much only fond of barn cats, which is to say outside cats - and I'm allergic to them. The only asthma attacks I get are in my daughter's house, she has a cat - or super cold mornings at the barn...
My dogs eat horse turds when I take them to the barn with me...
Now a sock kitty? hmmm, that'd be some pretty darn cool crap :)