Itchy dog skin?

 What food do you feed?  Brand and formula.

With bichons, itchy skin is either protein itch or allergy.  Protein itch occurs when the food is too high in protein.  Read the bag label to find out what the protein % is.  Food allergy, the most common triggers are grains and chicken.  Switching food AND TREATS is part of the solution if this is the issue.

 You can learn a great deal about foods here:  http://dogfoodanalysis.com/

Go to the REVIEWS (menus is across the top) and read some 6 star foods, then read some 3 star foods.

You can also try increasing her fluid intake.  Add broth to her kibble.

Which mange?  Demodex or sarcoptic?

Sarcoptic isn't going to go away with vaselline (nether will demodex - it's an immune problem).  If you will email me I will send you my article on "mange" generally (it covers both).  First you have to diagnose what you have.

since you talk about itch more than smell or infected pustules I"m guessing it's sarcops and that IS contagious (other animals, humans, anything warm-blooded) -- there are several things you can do, but you gotta know WHICH mange you're dealing with because what helps one will worsen the other kind if you aren't careful. 

What do you use for heartworm prevention?  That does NOT have to be expensive - you can use one bottle of Ivomec on any and all dogs who aren't herding dogs and probably give ALL of them heartworm prevention for the next 4 years for the price of ONE bottle.  that would also be the easiest way to treat sarcops if that's what it is. 

A dog can have BOTH sarcops and demodex at the same time.  It's time-consuming to treat more than expensive.

Email me -- don't PM me (it's an article -- I have to send it as an attachment for you to open on a computer).

 It might be dermatitis. For more information visit this link.

http://avidlifepet.com/dog-dermatitis/