Reading the posts on this site, and many others. It seems ACL injuries are happening more often these days in bird dogs. There could be many reasons for this. I only want to go into one so will leave the others alone.
Years ago I was doing some research on dew claws. Almost all hunting breeds have them removed. Except for the hounds. Hounds also seem to have the lowest number of ACL injuries. In fact I have never heard of one.
The info that I found said that the dew claw aids in traction and turning. There is some debate on if they are needed or not. Since on some dogs they never touch the ground.
I have to wonder if the dew claws were left on in active hunting dogs. If there would be less injury to the dogs without. I have never removed the dew claws from any dog that I have owned. Not sure how many that is, but has to be close to 100 or more. In all those dogs I have only had one that had any problems as a result of it. That was this past winter when one of my dogs tore hers out running on crusty snow.
May be something to thing about.