Your dog has been scratching for months. The ears are red again. The paws smell like corn chips. You've switched foods three times, tried grain-free, tried limited ingredient — and nothing sticks.
Sound familiar?
So you finally commit to a proper elimination diet. You pick a novel protein. You cut the treats. You're doing it right this time. But after 10 weeks, you're still not sure what's working, what's not, or what to try next.
The missing piece? Tracking.
Without consistent tracking, even the best elimination diet becomes a guessing game. And with a dog who can't tell you how they feel, guessing just isn't good enough. The same principle applies to tracking elimination diets for humans.
Quick Facts
- Food sensitivity reactions in dogs can be delayed by days or even weeks. Your dog's itchy flare-up this week could be caused by something they ate last week.
- The most common food allergens in dogs are beef (34%), dairy (17%), chicken (15%), and wheat (13%) — but any protein your dog has been exposed to can become a trigger.
- Skin symptoms (itching, ear infections, paw licking) take longer to resolve than gut symptoms. Gut signs may improve in 4–6 weeks, but skin can take 10–12 weeks of strict elimination to fully heal.
- Blood, saliva, and hair allergy tests for dogs are not reliable. Multiple studies have shown these tests cannot accurately diagnose food sensitivities in dogs. The elimination diet trial remains the only validated method.
- Owner compliance is the number one reason elimination diet trials fail — and lack of tracking is a major part of that problem.
Why Tracking Is Non-Negotiable for Dogs
Here's what makes food sensitivities in dogs so tricky: your dog can't describe their symptoms. They can't say "my stomach has been off since Tuesday" or "the itching is worse today than yesterday." You have to observe and record it yourself.
And the timing makes everything harder. Unlike a true allergy (which causes rapid symptoms like facial swelling), food sensitivities in dogs are delayed and cumulative. A small amount of a trigger protein might seem fine for a few days. But feed it for a week, and suddenly the itching ramps up, the ears flare, or the loose stools return.
Without a written log, you won't catch these patterns. You'll misattribute a flare to the wrong food, or worse — you'll abandon a diet that was actually working because a random treat broke the trial and you didn't realise it.
Tracking turns observation into evidence. It gives you — and your vet — something concrete to work with.
What to Track (and Why Each Detail Matters)
You don't need to write an essay every day. But a few key details, logged consistently, will make all the difference.
- Exactly what your dog eats — protein source, brand, batch if raw, any treats, chews, supplements, or flavoured medications. Even toothpaste and flavoured flea preventives contain proteins that can break a trial.
- Time of meals — this helps connect symptoms to specific feeds when reactions are delayed.
- Scratching, licking, and chewing behaviour — note where on the body (paws, ears, face, rear, belly) and how intense it is. A simple 1–10 scale works well.
- Skin and coat condition — redness, hot spots, hair loss, flakiness, oily patches, musty smell. Weekly photos of problem areas are incredibly helpful.
- Ear condition — discharge colour, smell, head shaking, pawing at ears.
- Stool quality — firmness, colour, mucus, blood, frequency. Changes in stool are often the earliest signal that a food isn't agreeing with your dog.
- Energy and behaviour — lethargy, restlessness, excessive panting, or changes in mood can all be sensitivity signals that are easy to miss without a log.
- Anything else that entered their mouth — a stolen crumb from the floor, another pet's food, a chew toy with flavouring, a lick of something on a walk. Even tiny amounts of a trigger protein can cause a flare and invalidate weeks of careful work.
How Symptoms Show Up in Dogs
Food sensitivities in dogs look very different from what you'd expect in people. Skin is usually the first and loudest signal — not the gut.
Most common signs: Constant itching, licking paws/face/ears/rear, red skin, ear infections, hot spots, hair loss. The classic pattern vets call "ears and rears" — itchy ears plus licking or scooting at the back end — is a strong indicator of a food-related issue.
Gut signs: Vomiting, diarrhoea, gas, bloating, and soft or mucus-coated stools happen in roughly 20% of dogs with adverse food reactions, but they're less common than skin symptoms.
Other signs you might miss: Low energy, restlessness, behaviour changes, recurrent yeast infections (that musty smell), and secondary bacterial skin infections that keep coming back despite treatment.
Severe shock reactions (anaphylaxis) are rare in dogs with food sensitivities. Most reactions are chronic and slow-building, which is precisely why they're so hard to spot without tracking.
These symptoms can take days to weeks to appear after exposure to a trigger, and they can take weeks to months to fully resolve once the trigger is removed. That's a long timeline to hold in your head without a written record.
What Tracking Reveals That No Test Can
A blood test gives your vet one snapshot. Tracking gives you a living picture of how your dog's body actually responds over time. Here's what consistent logging can uncover:
- Delayed reactions — a flare that shows up 5–14 days after a new protein is introduced
- Cumulative triggers — a protein that seems fine for 3 days but causes itching by day 10 of continuous feeding
- Hidden breaks in the trial — that one dental chew or flavoured heartworm tablet that contained beef protein and triggered a setback
- Seasonal overlap — environmental allergies (pollen, dust mites) flaring at the same time as a food trial, making results harder to read without data
- Healing timelines — clear evidence that skin is improving week by week, even when day-to-day changes feel invisible
- Protein-specific patterns — over months, you build a map of which proteins are safe, which are risky, and which are definite triggers
No lab panel can give you this level of detail. Your dog's daily log is the most accurate diagnostic tool you have.
How Long Should You Track?
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Patience is everything.
- Elimination phase: Feed a strict single-protein novel diet for 8–12 weeks minimum. Gut symptoms may improve by week 4–6, but skin symptoms often need the full 10–12 weeks. Track the entire time.
- Challenge phase: When reintroducing proteins, give each food 1–2 weeks before judging. Some reactions only appear after repeated daily exposure — a single serving may seem fine, but a week of that protein can push your dog past their threshold. Vet dermatologists recommend monitoring for up to 14 days per challenge food.
- Long-term tracking: Even after you've identified trigger foods, periodic tracking helps you catch new sensitivities developing (which can happen over time) and confirms that your dog's current diet is still working.
One pet owner tracked for over 9 months before fully resolving her dog's chronic itching and yeast — and it was the tracking data that finally revealed which proteins were safe and which were not. Without that log, those 9 months would have been wasted.
Tips to Make Tracking Stick
- Keep it quick. Two minutes a day is enough. Consistency beats detail every time.
- Log in real time. Don't try to remember at bedtime. Note meals, treats, and symptoms as they happen.
- Use a dedicated tool. A notebook, spreadsheet, or tracking app — what matters is having everything in one place where patterns can emerge over weeks and months.
- Take weekly photos. Ears, paws, belly, hot spots. Photos show progress (or setbacks) that your memory won't capture accurately.
- Track the good days too. Knowing exactly what your dog ate during a great week is just as valuable as knowing what caused a flare.
- Bring your data to the vet. Veterinary dermatologists consistently say that client food diaries make consultations more productive and lead to faster, more accurate diagnoses.
The Bottom Line
An elimination diet is the gold standard for diagnosing food sensitivities in dogs — every major veterinary organisation agrees on this. But the diet alone isn't the answer. Tracking is what makes the diet actually work.
Your dog can't tell you which food made them itchy. The blood tests aren't reliable. The reactions are delayed by days or weeks. And the healing timeline is measured in months, not days.
The only way to connect the dots is to write it down. Every day. Consistently.
It doesn't need to be complicated. A few minutes of daily logging — meals, symptoms, behaviour — adds up to a powerful dataset that reveals what no test, no vet visit, and no amount of guessing ever could.
Start tracking today. Your dog's comfort depends on it.
Data Sources
- Olivry T, Mueller RS. Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats. BMC Vet Res. 2016;12:9.
- Olivry T, Mueller RS, Prélaud P. Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (1): duration of elimination diets. BMC Vet Res. 2015;11:225.
- Tham HL. Elimination Diet Trials: Steps for Success and Common Mistakes. Today's Veterinary Practice. 2024.
- 5 Common Elimination Diet Trial Mistakes. Today's Veterinary Nurse. 2024.
- Coyner K, Schick A. Hair and saliva test fails to identify allergies in dogs. J Small Anim Pract. 2019;60(2):121–125.
- Purina Institute. Diet Elimination Trials. (Serum, intradermal, patch, saliva, and hair allergy testing are not reliable in dogs and cats.)
- VCA Animal Hospitals. Implementing an Elimination-Challenge Diet Trial Dog. 2024.
- Vandre Clear. Elimination diet trials for dogs and cats. Royal Canin Academy. 2024.
- Wilson S. Performing a Diet Trial to Identify Food Allergies in Dogs and Cats. Today's Veterinary Practice. 2022.
- Merck Veterinary Manual. Cutaneous Food Allergy in Animals. Updated 2025.
- Parr JM, et al. Assessment of dog owners' knowledge relating to the diagnosis and treatment of canine food allergies. Can Vet J. 2019;60(3):268–274.
- Horvath-Ungerboeck C, et al. Detection of DNA from undeclared animal species in commercial elimination diets for dogs using PCR. Vet Dermatol. 2017;28:373–e86.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional veterinary advice. Always consult with your veterinarian about your pet's specific health concerns.