Hi there, I was wondering if anyone had any advice or help for me about my dog.  I hae a 6 year old border collie crossed with a spnger spaniel.  Roughly about 6 weeks ago he started to bite his back end and tail, at first we thought had had maybe caught himself whilst out walking but on closer inspection we found that he had quite a few scabs where he had been chewing at himself.  We took him to the vets and he got a steriod injection and a course of anti biotics, however this didn't solve the problem.  We have even put a collar on him to stop the itching, but he is still managing to bite himself, with difficulty but he is still breaking the skin and making himelf bleed.  We took him back to the vets and they said that all it could be was fleas, so send us away with some frontline, and a course of antibiotics totake twice a day.  He still has his collar on, but is still itching and biting his tail. I was wondering if anyonw knew of any other reasons that he could be so itchy or any advice to help him with the itching??    Any advice or help would be gratefully apreciated as it can't be nice for the dog with the itching or with our constant shouting to stop him from itching his back end.

I would change my vet!

Fleas woud seem to be the prime suspect, but having ruled that out, the next thing I'd look at would be impacted anal glands - I'm surprised your vet didn't think of it.......

Perhaps they did :)  Maybe a rectal examination ruled them out and Guest just hasn't mentioned that or did not realise what the vet was looking for.  Don't you sometimes yearn to hear the vets side of these tales ;)  "Itches" are very difficult to get to the bottom of (no pun intended :)) as many a post will attest to and a process of elimination is often the only way to go. 

I feel sorry for dogs who have bad itchies who are made to wear collars so they cant get to it,it must be torture.I know how horrible it is when i've got an itch i cant reach! I would get a second opinion and not just a shot of steroids and be sent on your way,this is a bandaid to the problem and is not treating the cause of the itch :(

I'm not sure Guest's vet has "sent them on their way" :)  Common things are............ common ;) and obviously they should be looked at first with response to treatment being part of the diagnostic process.
It is a shame when dogs have to be prevented from scatching or biting, such behaviour does not really relieve their discomfort though, only adds to it and risks secondary infections to the site.  It's a pity we can't explain that to them isn't it :)