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Tonight I bought my 6 month old English Springer Spaniel a new toy (his favorite pressed rawhide) and while he was chewing it I bent down to pick up a small piece next to him that had broken off and he bit me (broke the skin, bleeding). In the past I have had two experiences with him growling when I reach for the toy in his mouth. I immediately told him to "Drop it!" and he does drop it. Then I would give it back to him, take it away, give it back and reward him with praise for the good behavior. I sincerly thought I broke him of the habit. To be honest he scares me now. Any suggestions on how I can change this behavior.

>>Tonight I bought my 6 month old English Springer Spaniel a new toy (his favorite pressed rawhide) and while he was chewing it I bent down to pick up a small piece next to him that had broken off and he bit me (broke the skin, bleeding). In the past I have had two experiences with him growling when I reach for the toy in his mouth. I immediately told him to "Drop it!" and he does drop it. Then I would give it back to him, take it away, give it back and reward him with praise for the good behavior. I sincerly thought I broke him of the habit. To be honest he scares me now. Any suggestions on how I can change this behavior.

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I have an article on Food Guarding at the link below my signature, could be helpful. But since the dog bit you, a veteriary behavior specialist is needed now.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

resource guarding is a fairly common issue with dogs. There's a book you can get from www.dogwise.com that is called "Preventing Dog Aggression" that I highly recommend. It goes through a systematic step-by-step appraoch to deal with this.

Observation and training by a professional is never a bad idea either.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

I am going to disagree with the prev. posters (rare) but ONLY because I think that I am reading into your post that you have been working with good success at having your dog 'give' or 'drop' on command....AND

IT 'seemed' that in this one case, that you startled your dog, by just reaching from the side with no prior command????

Still you might want to 're-train' from the beginning & have your dog 'work' for treats, using a 'wait' while you hold the treat on your open hand (& a leash to tug as a reminder) in front of him, that he only gets when you say 'ok'.

Also KdDavis' site has some good pointers on 'play-retrieving'. The idea that you are the one that controls food & toys is the message you want to reinforce.

If you get any further episodes that indicate he is not respecting you as alpha, then I'd be concerned. It is not good that he bit that hard, but am still wondering if it was that he was really startled?

He is at that age where he will try to assert dominance. You need to be confident in yourself, being 'fear-ful' or avoiding confrontation will increase his problems. Make him feel good about pleasing you with lots of opportunities to succeed with simple tasks.