Red Scaly bump

My six year old Vizsla has a red bump on his ear. It is about 1/4 inch wide and has dried skin on top. He had the same thing on his back. It would often seem like it would come to a head and bleed. After several months it disappeared.  Do you know what this is?  Our vet doesn’t seem to know. 

Hello!  I agree with your vet; nobody can 100% identify a lump without taking a sample and I would be suspicious of anyone who claims that they can, although some lumps are far more guessable than others.  I wonder if your vet thinks that this could be a strawberry lump, or a 'histiocytoma?' These go down on their own after a time, so sometimes if that's what a lump is likely to be, the vet may opt to leave them for a while to see.  However there are other more sinister possibilities and there are potential infections too, so we always advise showing such lumps to your vet in the first place and letting them make this call.  In the case of leaving possible histiocytomas, it may depend on things like finances,  the age and breed of the pet, the impact of anaesthetic etc. I think it's not only ok, but actually very important, to ask your vet to talk the reasons for their decision over if you are not sure. Best of luck.