Audience question:
ACL injuries are extremely common in field bred Labradors. Do you think there is a hereditary component or is it the strenuous training, quick stops and turns like the football players? UW Madison had a study on these dogs a couple years ago, but I don't know if it's been published yet.
Answered by: James L. Cook, DVM, PhD, DACVS, DACVSMR:
Definitely a major hereditary component in dogs – lots of research in this area that is available online (PubMed or similar). Here is one article we wrote: