sheltie gave birth and not drinking much

Question
My 13 month old sheltie gave birth during the night Sunday/Monday.  2 pups born under the couch and 2 in my room.  She is doing well as a first time mother but is not drinking much at all.  I had been giving her dry puppy food for the past month and now have been supplementing with wet food, but she still drinks very little.  She always has been a little nervous but seems a little more.  I have attempted to supplement the runt but mom let's me know that's her job and she will do it.  Any suggestions?

Answer
Dogs that are bred too young seem to always be nervous mothers. The best way to supplement her water intake is to give her more wet food.
Now she might not be drinking enough for you- but it seems that she is drinking enough for herself.

We can't always know how much they need. If her stools are good and not too dry and she has milk and her skin isn't tenting then she isn't dehydrated.

You did good by feeding her Puppy food for a while- she needs it more than ever now. I hope it is a good food like Science Diet Puppy Growth.
That food will help her and the puppies tremendously.

Keep feeding the puppy growth and get her a few cans of wet to go with it. She will need to be on the puppy food until they are weaned at which time you can wean her onto adult food. Puppy food is too high in protein for her to be on it past that time.

If she is nursing the runt enough then he should be okay- if not feed him when she is outside relieving herself. Again, this is where the higher quality Science Diet will help her have rich, nutritious milk for these babies.

Sounds like she and you both have it well under control. Shelties are by nature nervous so just be really calm and quiet around her and she will slide into the role with less nerves after a while.