Can anyone help identify this growth?

Think you so much for the add. We have an appointment for next week, but am worrying in the meantime. My husband checks our dog daily (full body) for ticks—sometimes twice a day. My Husband said he first noticed an enlarged spot a week or two ago on the dog’s ear under the hair. He didn’t say anything at that point, thinking he would just keep an eye on it. Since it’s under hair, not sure it if was smaller for longer under the hair. Yesterday morning my husband saw it looking like this. He did pull his fur back, so again, it might have been underneath for awhile, but it wasn’t enlarged like this. It does look really large in the photo, but in real life it’s about the size of a piece of corn or a pea. He touched it today with a qtip and it is movable, seemingly attached by a smaller part at the bottom. I’m scared obviously looking online, wondering what you think it could be? This is on his outer ear, not really in his canal—just outside of it. The red part was there starting about 1-2 weeks ago, not the purplish part (looks black here but not in person) around it. It was like it got irritated. He does not scratch it though, and it does not seem to bother him at all. However, since a puppy, he rubs his ears with both his paws sometimes when playing, and sleeps with his paws on his ears also a lot of the time. My dog is 12, and he cleans himself a lot (we think he is part Vizsla), but we don’t clean his ears and I didn’t even realize you should. Other than that, he is a super healthy boy and thankfully hasn’t had any issues in years. 🙏🏻 Thanks for any help. I saw skin tags on line, but wasn’t sure about the darker parts like this, or how rapidly they can grow. Appreciate any help.

Hello and thank you for this question.  If you type 'lump' into the search function for the blog, you should get a few good articles - including one that I'm biased towards because I wrote it myself.  The short answer is that it's difficult to tell from the outside; your vet may elect to remove it, biopsy or to wait.  They should talk the pros and cons through with you in a consultation specific to your dog and the lump.