When I hand feed Okami he is all good.  I have been hand feeding him for a couple of weeks now.  So i today i started feeding him from his dish again.  He only occasionally growls at me.  Never snapped at me.  But what also concerns me is how he eats, like he's scared.  Do you have any tips?

Honestly he doesn't seem scared he seems confused and annoyed.

Do you always hover over him like that and interrupt him? What is your intention if so?

I feel like he is trying to communicate that he wants some space.

Does this sound right or possible to you?

I have let him be and just eat by himself.  It's just I'll come by when he is eating to pet him on the head or rub his neck or put my hand into his bowl.  And he starts to growl at me, he just locks up and stares straight at his bowl.  And he should be use to me being around.

I come to him when he's eating to acclimate him to people being around, if anyone else comes by while he's eating I don't them to get scared or hurt.

I started hand feeding him in the first place because I've heard that's helpful to break food aggression.  Now I'm trying to work back into dish feeding him.

I'm new to this. Maybe I'm all wrong.  

Well if he's not actually biting you or attacking you then it could be that he is in fact use to you being around and he is growling at you to express that he needs space and that he is annoyed.  

I imagine he senses that a big deal is being made of his meal time and he just wants to relax and eat in peace.  

I totally get the intent of what you are trying to do.  I think it is extremely important to socialize them to the presence of yourself and other people.  I just think that continuing to do this type of work around his food bowl is going to cause him to associate you and your presence around his food as an annoying big deal, kind of creating a problem where there doesn't need to be one.  

Think about it practically: how long does it take him to eat a meal, maybe 30 seconds-1 minute?  Are you having other problems in other times with him growling or showing signs of annoyance or stress or is it just while he is eating and you are hovering over him and interrupting him?

If it is the only time you are seeing these signs then I think you and he will be better off if you just leave him be while he eats.  In your video you had him back away and sit and he did it while waiting for the okay to proceed.  If you are approaching this from a dominance/alpha perspective (because I know these perspectives regularly tell you to bother your dog while they eat) then I think you have accomplished your goal.  I feel like he is, rather politely in fact if he isn't actually biting or attacking you, telling you he just wants some space to eat in peace.

Would giving this to him put you off track in your training goal that much if you allow him 30-60 seconds of uninterrupted peace while he eats?  

If you are concerned about other people crossing the line, so to speak, you could also feed him in his crate if  he has one or in another area where he simply can not be interrupted and he has his space and his peace.  

I just get the impression that he is stressed out with you around his food and the big deal being made of it and this might have some negative consequences for his trust and respect for you down the line.  

I hope this helps, at least as some food for thought

In short or in other words, I doubt you are dealing with a true aggression problem so much as you are dealing with an annoyance problem.

There is a huge scale of types of growling. If if is low volume and in the throat and he's not baring teeth and curling his lip then I doubt this is aggression. He telling you he wants space and he's annoyed.

A growl is not a growl is not a growl.

Ok, then thank you.

He only takes about 30 seconds to eat. Just inhales it. I'm already concerned he might get stomach problems from being a vacuum. Can I slow him down without a slow feeder bowl? I find it concerning when I'm am just walking towards him and he kicks into an even higher gear while eating.

How can I be sure he won't scare anyone else?

Well he speeds up because he anticipates you interupting him and he wants to be left alone with his food. He's stressed over his meal time.

Who are you worried about scaring? How many possible people are there who would be likely to interupt your dog while he is eating his meal?

An other suggestion that was recently told to me is when your dog is eating and you approach there bowl drop a tasty treat in the bowl. That way your pup thinks of people coming over to his bowl as a positive thing.

Then you don't have a dog who is stressed that you will take there food away you have a dog that gets excited when you come over because good things come of it.

This might also help with guest and visitors and you could have them toss something in his bowl too. But I agree with Jeff in that if you have a ton of people over or children you can't trust don't put your dog in a stressful and potentially dangerous situation and just feed him away from the people.