Toy Poodle skin and hair issue

Question
Hello, My 6.5 y.o., 5 lb. male toy poodle (white/apricot, pink skin) Mc Kenzey has been developing brown spots since @ August on his skin, primarily on his rear end area and neck. The neck area is especially bad, it's now kind of scabby and slowly seems to be getting worse. He also appears to have developed some hair loss in this same time frame all over the body, it's been very gradual.
I have not changed his diet and he is acting completely normal as far as I can tell. Please help!  thank you, Laurie Hanly

Answer
Hello Laurie,
It could be alot of things causing your dogs skin discoloration and spots.  It could be due to your dog licking his hair or skin in these areas, it could be due to allergies (as dogs can have Allergies to the same things people can be allergic to) or it could be due to an illness or if your dog was recently sick.  

If the brown spots are in the coat, then its probably due to licking.  When chemicals in the hair react with chemicals in the skin, the result is the rusty or brown colored spots you mentioned.  The scabs can be due to hot spots, where the skin was injured and healed with these brown patches.  
Since it has been happening gradually, you might contact your Vet to see if there is anything in your dogs enviroment that could be causing this.  He might be able to prescribe a Medicated Shampoo or oral antibotics to see if this would help.  

I wish I could help you further with this, but as I am not able to see your dog I can't give a complete diagnosis.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim