my German Shepherd puppy keeps scratchin hinself. - Page 1

My German Shepherd puppy is 7 1/2 months now. For the past 2 weeks he's been scratching and itching himself. Last time I gave him a bath was about a month ago and he was perfectly fine. I live in new York city so it's starting to get cold so I didn't want to bath him out to see if the scatching would go away. My puppy has long hair and I also been feeding him royal canine but I'm switching his food to fromm(haven't yet tho.) .. any suggestions on what I can do to start him from itching himself so much.?

Make sure he doesn't have fleas and use a flea repellant even if you can't see any. Some dogs are highly allergic to flea bites and one flea can create a lot of scratching. GSD's as a breed have a lot of allergies, mostly inhalation, some times food intolerances. You may need to find a good vet who is familar with identifying and treating allergies in dogs.  A veterinary dermatologist might be a good choice; if you can get to Cornell they have an excellent dermatology dept there. Good luck.

'GSD's as a breed have a lot of allergies, mostly inhalation, some times food intolerances.'
This is interesting...can you expound on these, especially the ' mostly inhalation'. I've had gsd for thirty years no allergies with them.

To the op, what chemicals have you been using on and in your puppy for parasite control?

Has your heat been going on? Is the air drier in your home/outside? Might be something as simple as that.

Could trying adding coconut oil (unrefined) and/or Omega 3 (krill oil, salmon oil, sardine oil) to see if it helps.

Use any new chemicals around your home? Laundry detergent, dryer sheets, etc?
I would switch to Fromm or any better food than Royal Canin.
Does he have any rashes or hives along with the itching?
I always recommend the Great Dane Lady's yeast cleanse program. Worth a shot once he is switched to a better food and other causes are ruled out.

Anytime a dog is itchy without there being an obvious outside reason such as fleas, the first step is to switch to a grain-free food. Royal Canin is not only full of grains, but full of corn, too, one of the worst offenders. Terrible stuff. Get a high quality animal protein based grain-free (Natures Variety Instinct is a good example of such a high quality food), raw would be even better, give him a couple of weeks, and see how he feels. A lot of the Fromm products contain grain. Petfoodadvisor.com is a good site for learning more about different dog foods and does a very nice objective job of rating the foods, and explaining why they are giving the rating they are.

Allergies can be really difficult to handle. It's not easy to identify what the dog is reacting too, especially a food intolerance. The OP may want to consider this if switching food doesn't help. http://www.hemopet.org/hemolife-diagnostics/nutriscan-food-sensitivity-intolerance.html

Searching this forum will show a number of posts from GSD owners who have concerns about atopic dogs.

I can second the post about highly allergic to flea bites. My last GSD was on a flea preventative that killed fleas, but not before they bit him. My vet suggested changing the preventative, to K9 Advantix II, that would repel the fleas before they bit. It made an amazing difference. He also almost overnight developed an allergy to chicken of all things. According to my vet, sometimes allergies can come on very suddenly. If it's a food allergy, putting him on a limited ingredient food (grain free or changing the protein source of the food) is good advice.

Dog Food Adviser is an okay tool to use, however many crappy foods still receive 4 or 5 stars, such as Blue Buffalo, and Royal Canin.
I fed Fromm and was happy with it. There are many other threads on here with excellent food recommendations.

Some of the spot on, flea tick collar, and oral products for fleas, ticks, and heart worms cause allergic reactions and can actually cause scratching and dogs pulling out their own hair or fur. Check the boards for reports on the products that you use. Likewise some pesticides that are applied in homes and outside to control insects cause allergic reactions in dogs .. some serious and life threatening.