Hi, my doberman is 10 years old. For her whole life she has always had really bad allergies during summer. As soon as the weather starts heating up she starts rubbing her snout constantly, and licking her feet till she develops sores on them. We have not found a cure despite trying very hard. We have taken her to the vet many times, as well as a dermatologist who did a test for 100 allergies and it didn't show up anything. We have tried antihistamines as well as CBD oil with no luck. We also tried changing her diet a few times, even putting her on a tuna and polenta diet for a while with no luck. The only thing that worked were steroids but the side effects were very bad. We resort to just leaving her cone on whenever she is unattended during summer to stop her mutilating herself. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on anything else we have tried

Apoquel is a pretty effective medication that we've had a lot of luck with. But I don't know when or if it is appropriate for an older dog. That would be a question that a dermatologist would be able to answer.

Weird that nothing showed up on her allergy tests though. Is it possible that it is some kind of contact reaction to something like pesticide or fertilizer, or a reaction to a particular plant toxin that is not actually an allergy, but more a skin reaction to some substance it produces?

It sounds like she is prone to lick granulomas. They usually occur when a dog starts licking at an irritation...maybe an itch due to allergies or a bug bite, or a splinter...or out of anxiety, and it becomes an obsessive compulsive thing. They can do a lot of damage very quickly with incessant licking.

That one is difficult to treat, but there are some things to try, if that is what is going on. Here's a thread about lick granulomas with some suggestions you could glance at:
https://www.dobermantalk.com/doberma...ick-sores.html

Does you dog just break out on snout and feet only? Or other areas?
My dog has reactions to something thats airborne every fall.
1 part vinegar and 3 parts water is my go to for wipe downs.
The vinegar has a natural PH balance so its an excellent astringent for wipe downs as the dog comes in from being outside.
You can use the same mix in a big bowl and just dunk the feet in the bowl when the dog comes in the house.
Diluted vinegar will not dry out the skin like other products.
But if just snout and feet only ??? Makes me wonder if dog is reacting to something that just the feet and nose are coming to contact with ....??
Any contact with concrete on a regular basis or cleaning chemicals for your surfaces? Just some thoughts.

I would ask your vet to do the blood work and send to Spectrum Lab in Colorado. It offers very detailed information. It worked for me with a different breed of dog after I had tried literally everything.

The other solution is to go with a totally raw diet and see if it makes a difference. That would take at least 6 weeks staying on one diet. I have seen it work wonders on dogs that had continual allergies and ear infections, raw pads due to lickings, etc.

I would also discuss apoquel with your vet - I've had success with it.

I've had great success with Apoqel as well, got my girl off the steroid-antibiotic merry go round.