Hi Kate!
Sorry, I didn't see your other post due to not being on much lately ... Long story, but mine & Toto's 2 week visit to our home in AL has been extended to two months instead! [family health problems] I can't keep up with YT since it has grown so large!
Your post was a flashback to about a year or so ago for us. Toto began doing the same thing and was absolutely pulling "wads" of her hair out! The only thing different in her life was the new carpet we had installed in our home in AL! Dr. Lucy said that it had to be an allergy to the carpet ... she gave her antihistimine and a rinse for her hair called "Repair". It cleared it up in a matter of a few days! We did have to clean the new carpet which was much better than having it taken out, which was our first impulse!
Recently I began having big matting problems with Toto's hair and was so desperate I was planning to have her "show coat" cut down to a puppy cut! I have tried every product that has been recommended on the forum! I remembered one of Dr. Lucy's techs saying that "Repair" was the best conditioner she had ever seen and that you could practically leave it in without rinsing! I tried it last month after we got home and I am absolutely amazed! Her coat is sooo easy to brush now that I have decided to leave it full length and Toto loves being brushed again!!!