Boxer skin condition???

Question
We have an 11 month old purebreed boxer, brindle coat, black mask face. He's a house dog...typical day starts around 8 a.m. to which he goes outside to "Potty", back in to eat and drink, then outside for a few hours of play time (hooked up to a 50 ft long cable-type chain) . Comes in around 12pm. and only goes out every 2 hours or so throughout the rest of the day to potty ....and if able may spend time outside in the early evening hours..depending on the weather. My question is: about 2 months ago...he started itching and scratching...NONSTOP...CONSTANTLY CHEWING...I've been having to trim his nails and file them in order to keep him from bleeding to death due to the scratches..the insane digging...mindless in nature..one goal to get rid of whatever is itching the devil out of him! Initially, when summer began and he started spending more time outside...he would have hives/whelps all over his body....we thought it was an allergy ...vet said to see if benadryl worked( I am a nurse...) so of course the diphenhydramine decreased the histamine response...not completely curing...then it would continue. Vet gave us a depo shot to give..steroid to decrease the anti-inflammatory response...didn't work.  I tried flea/tick dips, medicated oatmeal doggy shampoo..."Happy Jack" skin balm...thought it was kennel itch...(just dicovered that dx. two weeks ago..)could it be a nutritional deficiency...this continues..not around ANY other dogs....could it be mange without the other dogs being involved??Am a single mom with 2 kids...work full-time ...need realistic answers ...can't afford for vet to keep guessing..can't afford to pay for treatments unnecessary...please please help! Thx!

Answer
Hi Lisa;
It sounds very much like an allergy to me.
Biting the feet is the biggest clue.
Allergies, whether from fleas or other sources usually cause them to chew their feet.
all of it sounds like allergies.
It also sounds like you need a different Veterinarian.
yGuessing and "Try>>> and see if it helps, sounds too slack, and I would not take my dog back to a Vet that did that.
when they get allergies, very often they get an infection, and need antibiotics.
Your description of your dog's behavior and skin condition sounds like what we see a lot of in the dogs we rescue, and what I have seen in my own dogs that had allergies severe enough that the skin problems ( hives) showed up almost immediately.

    Please don't use human medicines on him, unless the medicine AND the amount os prescribed by a Veterinarian.
The medicines Veterinarians use are sometimes the same think humans take, but it is calibrated to their weight and sometimes, age.
Using Benadryl cream won't hurt him, but it won't help anything but a temporary help, exactly like you described, if there is an infection.
flea allergies seem to be accompanied by infection a lot.
I strongly advise you to find another Veterinarian.
That one just didn't take care of this properly. Much too casual about something that can turn into a severe illness and even death.
Charlotte