I have decided to try the easy solutions first and hope it's not something more serious like a thyroid condition. So I have switched him from a chicken and rice kibble to a fish based food with sweet potato. I have also added fish oil supplements. I opted for capsules of salmon oil simply because they were on sale at Costco. Annoyingly, he bit and spit out the first couple that I tried. But he later went back and ate them off the floor. So I have since tried him on another and he ate that happily. We'll see how he does over the next 2 to 4 weeks on this changed diet.

I did take him to a public dog bath about 4 to 6 weeks ago because I had a coupon for a free trial. I used their shampoo so it might be a culprit but I doubt it because it was diluted to the point of being 90 plus percent water. He does have a full groom every year just before Christmas but has never had a problem with that. It is a little Christmas present I give myself... A nice clean dog with no effort on my part.