What the evidence actually says about Golden Retriever skin: ears are the breed's strongest measured risk, the breed has its own genetic scaling disease, and the wheat-allergy story is wrong.
Topic
Double Coat
The Labrador's defining skin problem is its ears — and ear disease in this breed is an allergy problem wearing a water-dog disguise. What the evidence actually shows about Labrador ears, allergies, hot spots and coat, including the chocolate-colour finding and the one skin disease that is genuinely specific to the breed.
The honest answer on shaving a double-coated dog — what post-clipping alopecia really is, whether the coat grows back, which popular warnings are folklore, and the medical situations where clipping is the right call.
German Shepherds carry an inherited skin-barrier weakness, and it drives almost everything that goes wrong with their skin — allergies, ears, deep pyoderma and hot spots. What each problem looks like, what needs a vet, and how to build a routine that holds.