Do antibiotics affect a dog's sense of smell?

I was told just yesterday by an experienced search and rescue trainer/handler that antibiotics can affect a dog's sense of smell. Wow, this was news to me. I haven't found a resource to confirm this but I trust experienced dog people and will be watchful for this phenomenon in my own and other's dogs. 

I did find this in an article by a trainer who I don't know personally:

"In some cases, tracking dogs have been depleted from helpful bacteria found in their nasal lining which helps them track better and catch scents, as they are supposed to. When this occurs, tracking dogs may lose some of their sense of smell during their second week of antibiotic treatment."

Be mindful of this with your diabetic alert dog. Does he seem to lose interest in scent training when he's on antibiotics or does his alerting seem a little off. If you have experienced this with your dog or do in the future, please leave a comment and tell us about it.

If you can't get enough about a dog's sense of smell, here's a good article from the Whole Dog Journal. 

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