Cavalier King Charles and Aggressive Behavior

Question
Our 3 1/2 month Cavalier seems to have an aggressive behavior.  She is very quiet and good in the morning but in the afternoon she becomes more aggressive.  She has a tendency to bite and when you pick her up to take outside fights with you and tries to jump down.  We use time out in the crate but she has started to bite the crate grate door and digs excessively in the crate.  Lately, her aggression has started earlier.  We are in the process of a move and this may be a cause.  She sleeps well at night, she likes the crate/kennel at night.  We put her to bed at 10; is that too late.  She takes a couple naps but not many.  She is very active and we may have let her play too much in the home.  She loves to chase a water bottle with peas in it that make noise but growls at it a lot. It may be she is just a puppy but she doesn't sit quietly very often at all like our previous Cavalier and always wants to go.  We are worried she has a bad temperment -- she doesn't attack, just bites alot.  When you sit on the ground with her she will jump in your lap and try to get at your face.  Thank you

Dave

Answer
Dave,
It seems to me she has some extra energy in the afternoon and needs to get that out. I would not be quick to label her with aggression.
At 3 1/2 months she is still in the puppy baby stage but is also in the stage that if she is not corrected on the unacceptable behaviors that is what she will continue to do. My best advise is to enroll her in obedience classes or start training her yourself what is acceptable behavior and what is not. You can do your training at a local pet store, or there is a wealth of good information on training on the Internet.
The biting seems to be rough puppy play, so make that known that it is not acceptable and when she bites say OUCH or NO very loudly to get her attention, if this continues then simply just walk away and have nothing to do with her, over time she will get the message that play rough means no play at all.


Hope this helps

Lorie