It's not clear to me how you restrain your dog - do you hold him physically with your arms? If so, stop doing that and just use the leash to back him away and keep him back from the visitor. Have the visitor ignore him until he's settled down. No petting, no eye contact, no talking to him. Once he's settled down the visitor can talk to him. If talking excites him, don't. If petting excites him, don't. The goal is that he be calm when a friend comes over. That doesn't happen overnight so be patient. Even if the visitor has to ignore him the whole time he's there, then that's ok.

Holding a dog physically and forcefully is not a wise thing to do. It's not something a lot of dogs like and can trigger a negative reaction to being forcefully held down. My opinion is don't provoke your dog into that kind of a reaction. Use a prong collar and leash instead. Much more effective and non-threatening to the dog. Holding a dog down is threatening.

Unlike a previous post, I didn't see any food aggression. Swallowing a bone quickly cause you're coming to get it isn't food aggression. And yes, a 9 month old is still a puppy compared to a 2 or 3 year old. Puppy behavior still reigns for a 9 month old. That's why he's so darn excited when the doorbell rings and a longtime friend walks in.

The last incident at the door occurred while I was holding his collar. He did not have a leash on. He previously did it once while I was restraining him by his leash with a prong but I was holding him tight close to the collar.

When I force him to sit and do not hold him tightly he if fine but sometimes this does not stop him from jumping.

Although I agree somewhat with the prior response that he has shown various types of aggression, I also believe he still has alot of puppy in him. I am trying to correct the behaviors that I can correctwhile his is still young.

He did have food aggression and the prior post had read my previous posts. He had a food aggression problem a few months ago where he would growl from the minute his food was placed down. I worked on it everyday and he stopped the behavior. He now shows no aggression when eating at all. He still has some aggression with food related items such as a bone but he is much better. I have been working with him and he has attended puppy kindergarten and two obedience classes. He is also registered for obedience II in September

I do not know if this means anything but he is super friendly with other dogs. He will play with any dog and if a dog shows aggression towards him he will back away. He does not try to dominate other dogs. He will just play for hours.

I do think he's reading a lot from your behavior, even subtle things that you don't even realize you're doing. If you are not holding him so tightly, because you're not nervous about what he'd going to do...he doesn't behave aggressively. I actually do this on purpose when I want my dog to elicit an aggressive response without appearing as if I've done anything to cause it (like when a stranger makes me uncomfortable, or when I just don't feel like stopping to chat, lol). I just grab him tightly and with stiff posture...and voila! He flips out. Be aware of your body language.

 Quote: Jenni Williams

....I actually do this on purpose when I want my dog to elicit an aggressive response without appearing as if I've done anything to cause it (like when a stranger makes me uncomfortable, or when I just don't feel like stopping to chat, lol). I just grab him tightly and with stiff posture...and voila! He flips out. Be aware of your body language.

:laugh:
It does work well. Gotta love that reliability. You found a cool way to use it to your advantage - way to go.

In addition to what everyone has posted - when you have someone come to the door get him in a down and then step on the lead and completely ignore him - if he jumps up he will self correct and as no one (including your door visitor) is paying him any attention there is a good chance he will calm down a little. You might have to get a friend and play thru the scenario of door greetings and then practice a bit more with different doors and different people. Big thing is not to give him any attention at all when he is in an excited state. Malamutes have a tendency to like things their way and can be stubborn as rocks when it suits them - you have to outlast them and insist gently but firmly that it is going to happen your way.

thanks sounds like you have owned a malamute

One thing I found helpful as I dealt with the door bell issue (nothing like haveing two PB charging visitors a barking...) My trainer had me do 20 minute down/stays. Every night after we trained and the dogs were fed, when we would sit down and watch TV (I had a drag lines on both dogs during this time) Both dogs would be put in a down position and they stayed that way for 20 minutes, if they attemped to get up they were corrected back down into the down position. Once they got the hang of this exersize (about 1 week) when I practiced the door bell behavior I would first put them in a down stay. Then I would have someone ring the door bell, as they attempted to get up and bark, I would calmly put them back into a down stay. When they could remain calm in the down stay, I let them stand and after the door bell would ring I would command them to a down stay. Once they got the hang of this I would let go of the drag line after they got down and tested to see if they would stay...it eventually worked for me. Of course when the visitor would walk over to the dogs in the down, their bodies would shake with excitement like they were going to explode, I would let the visitor pet them and bring them to a sit...this seemed to realease that excited energy. Just my experience...good luck.