Patches of hair loss with good pics

Unfortunately, I don't have any answers for what this might be, but I just wanted to say "wow" you did a great job with the pictures and descriptions.  I'm sure someone will be along who can look at those and give you some information.

Thanks, I hope so!
 
Re the pics - what can I say?? Ruby is a natural model! She stayed very still! She's very well behaved..... Most of the time!
 
I also think she's torn a ligament or something in her rear right leg as her knee joint kind of 'pops out' quite often, so she limps until it pops back - but that's another post!!! Feel sorry for her as she's such a lovely dog with a brilliant temprament an so young! I just don't have a great deal of money to through at vets bills - with my partner, four children and a cat

Honestly, you've found the best forum for great advice, free of charge [].  There are so many people with a lot of experience with different health problems and you can learn something new every day.  We've all been in the too few $$s and too many bills position, but of course we all want to do the best for our dogs.  Hopefully you can get some answers to help your sweet girl.

Is she itchy?

I don't have anything scientific for you other than a 'remedy' that I've found helpful in such situations (on advice from my holistic vet).
 
She always recommends thuja oil for "abnormal skin".  Thuja is an evergreen tree and the oil is just a mildly woodsy scent.  It's NOT easy to find -- typically you find it online.  I've never found it in a regular store -- only thru my holistic vet and online.  Not expensive -- just not 'typical'.
 
Rub a drop in the affected areas once a day.
 
Then if you do that at night, in the morning rub in 1 drop of tea tree oil (do one morning and one at night) which is gonna cover you if it's fungal.  Don't do a big area -- just those affected places.  After a couple of weeks you should notice a difference if it's working.

Cakana - I know. I'm just afraid of them spiralling out of control! With scrapes, tests, x-rays before you know it its £500! Just after Christmas too
 
Misskiwi67 - Not at all. Other than seeing the hair loss there arn't any other sympotoms I've noticed. What does that eliminate? Anything?
 
Calliecritturs - I think I saw you mention that in another post on here. Did you say it wouldn't make anything worse? Does anybody else think Thuja & Tee Tree would be a good start?
 
Thanks.
 

Is this the right Thuja Oil your talking about? Has many uses doesn't it!? Would it need to be diluted as this is neat...?
 
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I know you would rather not hear me say this because no one likes to spend money after the holidays but I do think she needs to have a skin scrape on that to rule out anything fungal or parasitic.  The pics are wonderful but unfortunately many skin problems are something that can only be seen under a microscope and/or tested with a Petri dish in an incubator.  For one thing you do not want to get whatever she has.  I'm just sorry to say but skin issues are a pain to diagnose and treat and often it takes a series of test to find out exactly what it is. 
 
Many skin problems can also be regional; the type of parasites you have on your side of the world (sorry I don#%92t know where you live) will be different than what is common in the US and have different side effects.  Even in the US, from one state to another we will have completely different parasites.  For example, once at the vet I worked for we had a horse come in with a strange rash the vet had never seen before.  The horse turned out to have a parasite not seen in my area, we were lucky to catch it before it spread to others.

Once you can rule those out then you can treat it for something else.  Could even be a nutrient deficiency, reaction to certain food you feed, could be genetic- do you know her linage?  If you are able to, could you contact the breeder and ask if anything like this has happened in their breeding line?  This could even be a sign of thyroid problems (also genetic) that can not be treated topically.  The list goes on.  I really hope you find the answer soon, your girl sounds like a sweetheart.

Run a thyriod panel (full) at Michigan State.

Just been looking on the internet and it seems to me as though her knee problem (that is mentioned above) is due to Patella Luxation! Looks like that's going to break the bank on its own never mind the skin problem! Some people get all the luck!

Because of the lesion on her elbow, I suspected scabies. If it doesn't itch, then its definately not scabies.

I would have a skin scraping for demodex and a fungal culture done...

As soon as I read  your post about  her knee I thought "Oh my, a luxating patella more than likely.  My now 7 1/2 year old golden retriever had her first knee operated on at 16 months and the other 14 months later.  Luxating patella.  It is so common in small dogs, not as common in large dogs,but it does happen....as i well know.
 
i have not seen a  place like that one, so have no idea what it could be.  I do think a vet does need to look at it, tho,.