What is a "hot spot" exactly???

I've read and seen all kinds of remedies for hot spots but what are they exactly??? Every summer-only during the hot weather months Sophie loses the fur around her tail, not large spots, nickel sized actually. Then she itches by biting herself or scratching up against chairs.

I've been using oatmeal spray from Petco and a bit of neosporin. It isn't bugs, I checked every inch of her for fleas and nothing. I haven't changed her food or any products in the house or I'd think allergies. But it doesn't happen in the fall or winter, just the same time every year May-September. Any suggestions?

Well "hot spot" is just a generic term for a moist dermatitis. Think about a mosquito bite that you scratched until it was raw and oozy. Essentially that's what a hot spot is. It can be caused by a lot of things... a dog scratching at bug bites or because of allergies, sitting around wet for a long time, etc etc etc.

Okay, that makes sense...now how do you make them go away???

Well if you can figure out what's causing them, address that (i.e. allergies).
Depending on the dog's coat, often clipping the hair will help a lot, because if the hair gets crusted/matted into it, it will sit and fester and get worse.
Sometimes topical antibiotics or anti-inflammatories are enough, if they are really bad sometimes oral antibiotics or anti-inflammatories.

I've only had one dog with hot spot problems, and if they started to appear I would shave all the hair around it and it would go away quickly. I don't really know what caused them, the vet said flea bites, though he didn't 'have' fleas. None of the sprays or creams ever helped.

One of ours had a hotspot two years ago, and I shaved the hair around it and put some EMT gel on it and it was cleared up in no time.

You could try a little cortisone ointment on them for a few days or a week...not for too long though.

First thing I would look at is diet. My old girl itched and had spots and lost hair. SHe itched herself on everything, even dragging her belly across the carpet back and forth. If she gets so much as one cracker she will have red moist itchy areas. Specially in moist areas like under the tail, in her creases and belly.