Has anyone heard of a skin problem that causes a dog to itch so bad that they litterly bite and scratch they skin till it bleeds and bites their hair out. I've taken her to 3 differant vets and they've done blood work and every thing and can't seem to tell me whats wrong. Her skin in places looks like elephant skin and theres dark spots on her skin. PLEASE if anyone has heard of this condition let me know and what needs to be done to cure this. Thanks Tammy

Skin problems can be as a result of a huge number of things. However, if the vets have eliminated the most obvious things such as internal and external parasites, and kidney/liver probelms etc then it could be an allergy thing. The best place to start is to feed a very bland diet of (usually) chicken and rice for at least a week with no tid bits or treats.
You can get allergy testing done but I don't know whether you are in the UK or not.
Bec

We had a similar problem with our GSD last year and ended up shaving her bald:( .She looked dreadful but had developed open sores and started to self mutilate, eating her skin on legs and tail. It took months of trearment and wearing a surgical collar and eventually we put it down to an allergy to amonia as she would sit in the wee outside .

Sounds like your Maltese has an allergy, fraid it will be trial and error.

Good luck