I always let my animals spend time with the animal who has passed on. When my 17 yr old bluey had to be PTS we allowed our then 4 yr old bluey sniff him and spend time with the body. She kinda tried to wake him up and when he didn't she lost interest. We then wrapped him in a sheet and buried him in the paddock. To this day our bluey doesn't like it when we wrap our "new" dog in a towel after he has a bath, she gets distressed and tries to pull the towel off him. I now keep him in the bathroom until I'm done with towelling him.
When mares lose foals we always let them see the body and spend the time trying to "wake" it. We also do this if we have to put horses down. We allow the other members of the herd to see them lying still.
I have no experience with this but just wanted to say how sorry I am that you have lost your beautiful lab. I have a 9 month old lab and it would break my heart to have to say goodbye to her
Thanks for all your replies. Our younger dog had a quick sniff and then went for a wee. We don't know if she was with the older dog when she was hit, but she seems to know that she is gone.
We have laid her to rest with one of her fav toys in a really nice spot in the garden.
When I lived with my Mum and Dad and my eldest dog now (was just a puppy then), sniffed my Mum's dog after she passed away. I balled my eyes out - but it did seem to settle my dog a bit. Unfortunately my Mum's cat must have fretted for the dog and passed away a fortnight later.
I hope your remaining dog is ok and keeps settled.
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