Why are the mates so terrible sometimes TvT

Playing on lost river for the first time. My mate was pretty good during trial period. Would bite during hunts and generally a cool wolf:3

Had pups now. The first pup got killed (2 wolves showed up). Didn't do anything but run around. (And the pups kept not going in the den??)

He was hungry, so I went to go grab food. He followed me, and by the time I came back (carcass was really close to den) all the pups had ran off. He did not help carry them back AT ALL!! I had one in my mouth and walking behind another seeing if he'd grab it and he just walked around. Useless 😢