Rash on belly or hotspots?

[abbybee09]

Hello everyone. This is my first time posting on a pet forum, but my dog seems to be in no immediate danger/health risk so I thought I'd seek out help from fellow pet owners before making a run to my vet and paying a ton of $$$ (I've recently hit financial hardship so I try to save where I can).

Anyway. A few days ago, I noticed a couple of pink spots on my dog's stomach area near his groin. It didn't seem like much, I thought he may have just scratched a little too hard. However, the next day the pink kind of developed into a light red and seemed to be more prominent. My boy is a 2 year old German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix, and has once had a bad case of hot spots around his neck. I figured this red "rash" couldn't be hot spots as it wasn't oozing puss or giving off any foul odor. But I've been doing some research online that may lead me to believe he may have hotspots again possibly triggered by allergies?

His behavior is completely normal, as is his stools (there was one single time where he had diarrhea, but he had gotten into the garbage the previous night and there were no times after that one time where he had diarrhea). He doesn't really itch the spot, but I have put coconut oil on the rash so maybe it's relieved itchiness? He doesn't lick his belly more than he usually does, but recently I've noticed that when he does lick the rash area, it gets more red.

Before I rush to the vet, I just wanted to get some advice from people that may or may not have had any experiences similar to mine. I've attached a picture of his rash as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!