The story continues...

This is just a guess, but I would say that part of the reason Ariel rejected the pup in the first place is because she had it C-section. She woke up unaware of having given birth to this little thing crawling around on her.

Oh, it's not that unusual for an older dog to reject a single pup, but the way things have progressed, I'm guessing it was more than just the old dog/single pup thing.

Now that Ariel is home, she has gathered up every single stuffed toy in the house and has taken them up to her open crate (we made it feel like a den for her by covering it and making it dark when we realized she wouldn't settle without a den.).

If you pick up one of these ersatz "babies" and squeek the squeeker, Ariel will roll over on her side so that she can nurse it. When she takes a new stuffed toy up to her den, she immediately lies down with it in nursing position.

For more than a week now, the only thing on Ariel's mind is her brood.