Well - I was telling DH about your solutions and he goes “you don’t think they’re bothered by the new laundry detergent I got?”
I could wring his neck for not mentioning this earlier! (And you can totally tell that I do no laundry at our house).
Crossing my fingers and toes that was the issue.
I would bet money on this being the issue!!!
That’s probably it. My heeler is sensitive to my laundry detergents and soaps around the house.
Try adding some salmon oil or other Omega 3’s to help the skin heal.
DH and I were just laughing about the time our vet put all three dogs on steroids for scratching. A scrape had turned up nothing.
Under the influence of steroids, one of them ate a loaf of bread in the car while I dashed into the post office. They also broke into the pasta stash and ate a bag of noodles. But kept scratching.
Out of desperation we went to a different vet who scraped again and said yep, it’s mange. $15 worth of ivermectin per dog was all it took to cure them.
Thus made me remember the time my 1st german shepherd kept rubbing her eye. She had a bunch of allergies so we treated her with steroids and antibiotics as usual. But this time it just didn’t work. I finally checked the ingredients on her lamb and rice dog food that she had done great on for years. Yep, “new and improved” on the bag. The improvement? They added wheat! As soon as I switched food she got better.
I had the same thing happen almost a year ago with Orijen. Added salmon (my dog is 4/5 allergic to salmon) with NO notice. Infuriating. Took us weeks to figure it out. 
I’m not sure if you have added any fish oil to their diet if they have dry skin? Its always something to think about. I add 20ml of herring oil or salmon oil daily for my girl.
If you do think it maybe allergies, bovine colostrum work wonders! I give this to my dog daily (1 tsp for a 115lb dog. I purchase it at a feed store as its much cheaper than pet food stores). I have also heard that Quercetin works wonders as well. Its also called natures benedryl. I haven’t tried this but my girl so far does not have any allergies. I also purchase mushroom capsules from amazon that I give my girl 2 caps/day and I take 2 caps/day. I use it to build immunity, but it can also be good for allergies as well. Its not too costly either! I pay about $30 and it lasts us 1 month.
Here are some more natural remedies that you can try for allergies if you so wish:
I just had this emailed to me now and it has some of the ingredients mentioned above all in one:
It would be great if that’s the issue!!
Been in Ocala since Monday and the dogs haven’t scratched once. So it’s either the weather or the laundry soap!
So glad to hear it!
Back in Indiana and they’re scratching. Vet appointment next week (I’m sick and don’t want to infect the vet’s office).
The Lurcher has calmed down with it. The collie is very itchy. I did her weekly brush today and a ton of coat came out. I can’t decide if she’s blowing her coat or if she’s scratching that much hair out. 
I’m betting your husband is right that it’s laundry detergent.
That said, There are two different kinds of mange. Sarcoptic, and Demodectic. . Sarcoptic is the kind with the mites. Demodex, usually in my experience, is autoimmune and triggered by stress. I’ve seen it quite a bit in the rescue dogs that I’ve had come through over the last 20 years or so. The demodex usually starts around the eyes and the nose you start to see some weird hair loss there if you’re not really looking for it you might miss it. But it’s easily treated with a course of ivermectin, which is not expensive and easily administered.
If you do think it may be the detergent, give them both a good thorough bath with a mild shampoo like baby shampoo or ivory liquid and then towel will dry them well and see what happens a mild oatmeal shampoo or an unscented puppy type shampoo usually works well also. I would probably still do this anyway no matter what it is.
Ah bummer. I’m guessing maybe also type of heat and/or humidity in the air? Have you stopped using the laundry detergent? Do you have electric heat? Maybe some humidifiers may help.
I wouldn’t think demodectic mange to just affect two different dogs at the same time. That would be weird as it’s an autoimmune response. (Unless something very stressful happened.)
When my dogs had mange the vet prescribed me some shampoo that was honestly like a miracle. It is very expensive BUT it worked so well I decided it was worth the money. I just looked and you can get it on Amazon for a lot less than my vet sold it:
It smells really good (coconut) and lathers easily so a little goes a long way.
I had our cleaner wash everything and vacuum while we were gone.
I’m going to bathe both dogs if I can find the energy today, and honestly maybe just slip them some ivermectin. The collie isn’t a MDR1 carrier so it can’t hurt. 
it’s ivermectin in a certain dosage over a month or so not just one dose
It can’t be mange since the symptoms went away in Florida. It’s got to be something environmental.
I agree. I’m kind of thinking they figured it out with the new laundry detergent.
All of our sheets were washed with the old detergent while we were gone. There might be a few outfits hanging in the closet that the new detergent was used on, but otherwise it should be gone. 
Further googling has convinced me that there is mold in our house, so at this point I’ll take anything that isn’t that!
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