My friend has a labrador that is constantly scratching. She rubs her front paws over her head and scratches at her "armpits" with her back paws. She does this while we are out walking aswell as at home, and seems to do it more when she gets excited. So far she has consulted 4 vets and had blood tests, skin tests, ear swabs, all revealing no problems. She has also on the vet's advice changed to an additive free food, but she still keeps on scratching. I am beginning to wonder if it is more of a bad habit/nervous twitch she has developed rather than a physical problem? Any ideas??

You could try Thornit (or Dezyna Dog 'Gold Dust' )  its for ear mites but it does seem to help itchy dogs too ;)

It can take a few weeks for the additive free food to work and the itching to calm down tho ;)

Which one is she using?

Hi, it may not be the same problem, but merlin itched horrendously and we tried changing his diet and so on. I discovered that it was down to febreeze when i ran out of it. We bought doggy stuff for his bed and i kept forgeting to get febreeze so i was using the dog stuff everywhere instead, which actually works better as it is designed for that purpose and his itching has stopped. He did have a major itch last week, but he was at my mums while i was at work and she washed his bedding with a different washing powder. when i rewashed his bed with our usual powder it stopped, arnt they sensative. Saying this though i dont know what a skin test picks up so the tests he has had done may already have ruled this out. Just thought i would mention it incase they dont though.