Blankets and bed from passed on dog

[derbsva]

We let our lab go this morning and I'm not sure if we should wash his blankets and bed so that our other lab doesn't smell his scent in the rooms.  She was always the Alpha Dog so I'm not sure how much she will miss him.

Any suggestions?

[Margot49]

So sorry for your loss.  If it were me, I would leave them unwashed and out for a few days but in a place other then their regular location.

[BluCrystal]

Dogs noses are super-sensitive, and if your female can smell the male, she may go looking for him, and surely wonder why she cant find him.  I say the more you can do to erase the male's scent from the female's environment, the more comfortable she will be.

[ginger899]

I am so sorry about the loss of your Labrador.

Animals do grieve, so don't be surprised if she is a bit "down". Yes she will miss him. Be kind and loving to her, yet try to keep routines as normal as you can. And make sure she gets walks, games, things like normal for her. Things like that do take the edge off for them, so they know they miss their buddy but their whole world hasn't collapsed.

She will get your Lab's scent around the house. There's not much you can do about that. But when my dog passed last year she had a good dog-friend who lived nearby at the farm across my fields.He grieved after she went, but after 3 weeks seemed he might be coming out of it, and was more cheerful.
He came back to the house with me once, caught my dog's scent from the mat on the back step where she always liked to rest during the day. I hadn't moved that mat as it had her little dog-hairs still on it, and I wanted to keep them there.
He caught her scent, looked obviously upset, and ran for home, and I couldn't get him to come back. It showed me he was doing OK until he got a reminder of his loss.