It generally can be allergy related. My half Sheppard/Akita gets them as well, and it is always around the same time of year. The fall is the worst for her. She was getting them so bad I had to take her to a doggie dermatologist. Progression went basically like this:
Benadryl - 1mg per pound of bodyweight. On severe outbreaks can go up to 2mg per pound of bodyweight for limited time. However, on those bad outbreaks best thing to do is go to Vet and get her Benadryl injection and steroidal shot.
Hydroxyzine - Supposed to be more effective than Benadryl, but didn't work for us. Never stopped outbreak.
Special Diets - no help.
Cyclosporine - the nuclear bomb of allergy treatments, with price tag to match. Absolute wonder drug! With this medicine all of Coco's itching, scratching, hot spots, etc disappeared. On rare occasion she would get a hot spot here or there, but totally livable.
Yes my dog had to go with the most expensive option available, but.... In the Fall I almost had to be on watch 24 hours a day with her. If she got a hot spot when I wasn't around she'd chew it absolutely bloody in minutes. I had to bring her everywhere with me. Now with Cyclosporine I don't even have to worry about her having a scratch year round.
The good news: 5 years ago it would cost me $300 a month in Cyclo to keep her sedate, this past Fall it was down to $150 a month thanks to the growing generic market. This is a double dose of med's for her, which she needs peak seasons. The rest of the year half a dose is sufficient, costing us $80 per month. Every year it does go down. The dose is weight dependent FYI, and Coco is a 100 lb girl. For smaller dogs cost would be much less.