I have a 9 week old that really likes his food. I always feed him in the kitchen and have a little fence that doesn't allow free access to that room. Well this has become a little challenge. Now that he knows he eats in the kitchen, he's always very enthusiastic to go in there, to the point that when I'm inside doing dishes and leave him with his toys for 2 minutes, he will stand by the kitchen door expecting to get in.

Sometimes he will be nice and quiet in a sit position, and if I happen to be about to feed him, I go get him, praise the 'quietness' and let him in and feed him.

Other times (like 5 mins ago) he gets very difficult. I went in to defrost his dinner in the sink, and when I went out, he was there quietly. I called him (he was all anxious) and when he came, I praised and then tethered him to me.

Well he didn't like this, started biting at me, and when I said NO, his prey drive got worse and so did the biting. So I put him in his crate. He's there whining and howling, and he never whines while in his crate. He loves it there, but obviously he likes food more.

Hmm... So he was there for 5 minutes. He was whining the first three, then when he was quiet for 2, I went to look for him to praise that he was quiet and to reward him by getting him out of the crate (since he likes his crate, I don't want him to think crate = punishment). Well he had peed and was soaked in pee since the towel was not in. He had gone outside an hour ago, and he's hardly having accidents in his crate, so this was definitely an excitement pee.

I see this as an opportunity to establish pack leadership and boundaries, but see why it could become a problem, specially since I can't correct him yet (leash correction I mean). Any thoughts?

It is time to feed him now. So I went in the kitchen to see if he stayed quiet and reward with food, but no dice. I'll go back in 5 minutes to see what happens.

A 9 week old puppy is going to whine at certain times, especially if he knows you're making his dinner. I don't see anything wrong with that and to me it's not an issue to correct (or to try to work out of him at this point). He's very very young. I'm not exactly sure what your question is, though? Are you asking if he should have free access to the kitchen? If that's the question, my personal preference is to allow access to the kitchen, but that's a preference thing. I sure wouldn't worry about the whining though, to me it's not a problem, especially with a 9 week old.

Sorry if I didn't understand the question completely!