Because my life is so sad all I do is spend time talking dogs and discussing pet problems on internet groups!
Seriously, I do find things like this interesting, and so do many of my friends both in real life and on the groups. We all exchange experiences and ask for advice if we have a problem.
If there is something that I don't know, I tend to look it up and then bookmark it in case anyone else has the same problem, but also with having worked with and owned animals for lots of years you do pick up things that stay somewhere in the cloudy mass that passes for a brain.
For example, someone at ringcraft has a Hungarian Vizsla that had a type of wart removed from its ear. My friend's Rottie had previously had a similar one, and our vet said to leave it and it would go. The Vizsla owner's vet charged her a fortune to remove it and although it has healed it took as long to heal as the Rottie's one did to disappear on its own. It is called a Hystiocytoma, and they are a benign tumour that can come and go. Obviously it is worth checking with you vet if you get a lump of any sort, but a good vet will not operate unnecessarily. If the Vizsla gets another one come up, she is going to go to our vet to have it checked rather than let her vet operate again.
Although I am the first to recommend seeing a vet if your pet has a problem, they do not always have experience of certain conditions, and when you have been 'in' dogs as long as me and some of my friends, you do learn things along the way. I also take information to my vet if I find something I think he may be interested in, so it works both ways.