San Diego's Newest Hot Spot

My dear old dog whom I adopted 10 years ago, named Charlie by the pound, but nicknamed C-Toast by the hubs and I, has a hot spot. This is the third bout this year and I swear, one of these days his tail is going to fall off from his obsessive licking! We wash him with the special soap, put the flea deterrent on him, give him his thyroid meds daily, love on him and eventually some punk of a flea gets him and it is all over, the inevitable placement of the cone arrives. You know,
THE cone.
One of these:

Lately his totem pole placement has dropped several rungs since babies started making appearances around Casa de Flohr
and I have to wonder, is the obsessive licking out of sheer desperation for attention? In any event the poor guy's tail is a cry for help. The fur around the base of his tail still looks like a lion from the last vet's visit, it has just started to grow out and I fear if we go to the vet again, they will humiliate him further. Even though Halloween is months away, he has donned the cone again. The last time he wore it, someone boldly yelled over our front fence that it was animal cruelty to put a cone on a dog, that we should be ashamed of ourselves! Now, I agree it is not the most comfortable canine accessory, however neither is a raw tail. I chose the lesser of two evils. Hopefully C-Toast will understand.