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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not a vet, but I do have decades of experience with terriers and Miniature Schnauzers specifically (breeding, showing, etc, my mom was an AKC Breeder of Merit).   Terriers, of which your Schnauzer is one, are notoriously prone to skin problems associated with allergies.  Since this sounds like it's sudden onset, I would suspect something environmental, like bug bites or a grass/pollen allergy rather than food - although you are right to suspect a food allergy.  For dry food allergies it's usually not the animal protein that's the problem, it's the grain protein used to bind it (corn, rice, potato, pea, etc).

First thing - unless your dog is doing earth dog work and going to ground getting varmints and getting filthy, [b]your dog does not need a weekly bath. [/b]Bathing that often dries out the skin and that could be the cause of the irritations you see now. Schnauzers at most need a monthly appointment with a groomer for a Schnauzer cut, and since you aren't showing, the dog does not need to be "stripped" which is how show terriers keep their wire/rough coat.

If cutting down the bathing to once a month doesn't stop the red spots, then I would move to suspect food.  I would back the dog down to a limited ingredient dog food, there are several good brands on the market.  You may want to go to just a bland diet to start of chicken and white rice you can make in your insta-pot.  Authority makes a good canned version that can settle an immune system, or you could ask your vet for a script for prescription food just to get that immune response under control.

Your vet is probably going to move from the daily benadryl suggestion to prescribing a steroid, like prednisone, which will knock that immune response down. It doesn't look severe enough for a shot of Dexamethasone or an Apoquel script but your vet could decide otherwise. [/quote]

Thanks so much for your reply.
I take him to the dog park once a week - he gets pretty dirty, which is why bathing once a week.  
After seeing these flare ups yesterday, I’m considering a break from the park too…
Then we could maybe do bath every two weeks … else he gets quite smelly.

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