Itchy Rash

[shanniesue2]

Request: please read the whole post and look at the big picture with this situation.

Okay, so before we boarded Georgie, she was getting really itchy. To the point that she actually made herself bleed from scratching so much. She also has the raw cracked rings around some of her nipples. So I decided I would switch foods and try a new shampoo. Since I have had her back from boarding, we have been switching her to Nutro Ultra (it has a lot of oils and such in it). I have also bathed her in an oatmeal shampoo. And we have started keeping her outside during the day because I have started back to work and can't stay inside with her all the time.
Now her entire belly and chest is covered in this red rash. She doesn't appear to itching quite as much as before the boarding, but that's in the evening when I'm home with her... I don't know what she does during the day. The rash doesn't have any bumpies or raw spots... it's mostly just red splotchy on her belly and chest. There are also some red splotchies on her incision from her spay (although that's not where the rash appears to have started). The vet said that she had a slight reaction to the absorbable stitches, but that it was healing okay. It's still just a little swolen around the incision site, but it isn't oozy or anything, so I'm not worried about that.
I don't want to just keep running to my vet for every little thing... that gets expensive. So, how long do you think I should wait to see if the rash goes away before calling the vet? Are there any home remedies I can try? Or do you think there are too many variable to figure out what's causing it and maybe I should give her a little more time to adjust to her food and being outside before I do anything?

[GSDNewbie]

is she by any chance laying on any pine tree straw? or any other straw in the yard? please describe your yeard setting I am thinking might have to do with that you can while she is clean where rash is rub in hydrocortizone creme for her and give it a couple days

[shanniesue2]

We just have your basic bermuda grass in the back yard... I don't have any gardens or anything like that.

[Moo]

GretaJack told me that you can safely put hydrocortisone cream on the dog, to see if it makes the rash go down.

When did this start? Lots of stuff lands on grass (especially when there is dew) it could be a seasonal allergy of which the grass contributes to. (Kirby has a summer allergy which surprisingly hasn't come up this year.)

[shanniesue2]

The rash looked better yesterday. I haven't checked it yet today. I really hope its not a grass allergy (or an allergy to something else thats in the grass) because I really don't want to have to crate her all day long, and she's not trustworthy in the house yet.