What is the best way to help my dog with food aggression be less fearful?

When I put a pellet of his favorite food in my hand he freezes in a nervous (maybe aggressive way) ... no growling or snapping - just freezes, flashes me a side eye, timidly sniffs the food and walks away.(I am trying to hand feeding because he does have food aggression and resource (treat) guarding. If you pet him while he is eating from his bowl or eating a high value treat anywhere he WILL snarl, growl and bite)

Freezing is just another anxious behaviour the same as fight, flight or flee http://k9aro.webs.com/behaviour.htm You need to do some work on NILIF, so your dog earns it food and earns it is small meals, such as using a kong, filling it with same food,. getting your dog to do something then allowing him the kong so he can take it way and eat it, that way it is in small amounts, he is aware that you are the provider of all his resources and he gets nothing without earning it............... it isn't something you do on your own without professional help ie hand feeding a dog that freezes, you are highly likely to get bit....give no eye contact, no speaking as this detracts from what you are doing and puts further pressure on the dog.............

Sometimes they hoard food due ot fear of not haveing any when they are hungy. Each dog has its own eating schedule comfort level. We had a dog that did that, guarded the food bowl even when empty. Placing a large constantly full bowl of food down at all times worked. She realized that it was a never ending bowl of food, and eventually paid no attention to it. Also lost weight due to no more gobbling everything in sight.

You have the right idea, we were able to break our food aggressive dog's habit using the same method, however, we made sure that dog saw the food offered was from "Her" bowl, which had now become MY bowl. Your dog is unsure what your intention with this new way of feeding is, and is trying to figure you out, or wait you out until things go back to normal.Make sure you commit to this though, don't give in cause he's refusing to eat from your hand - he won't starve if you stick to your guns. Eventually he'll get the idea. We fed our dog by hand for about a week, and then would offer her the dog bowl after she sat, lay down, or performed another command when told to. After two weeks of offering her the bowl, we set the bowl at our feet, and again after she sat for us, we invited her to the bowl, and kept our fingers and hands in the bowl and on her while she ate, removing her if she showed any possessive signs, and returned to the previous step for a few days.Finally, we returned the bowl to the usual feeding spot, and she has to wait until given permission to eat before she can have it. We stood over the bowl for the first week, and since then, we make a point to randomly approach her while eating, and take possession of the food dish and she must wait until we give it back.One other tip that helps with this is to ALWAYS eat something before you feed her - the Boss always eats first, and the rest must wait until the Boss is finished. We often eat a cracker or two while holding her food dish, so she thinks we are eating from the dish first.