Sounds normal to me. My cat does the same thing you are describing with our dog. She is like a mother over the dog. Just wants to keep her in check and clean:)
Oh my goodness! I hope he's ok! I thought I was going to read about something funny and say YES our dog likes to 'try' to sneak food also. Hope he's better soon!! Prayin here.
We really liked Wordsmith Apprentice!. We are using Jump In, this summer.
I say: Older child Jump In, younger child Wordsmith Apprentice.
(btw we currently have Wordsmith and chose not to used it)
I've planned things out several years ago, all grades and what to use. Though none is set in stone until the year before and I buy the curric. It's fun to look at all the goodies and plan:)