A trainer would fail me

Chevy eats home cooked food and about a year ago, I accidently gave Chevy some partially spoiled food for his meal.  He had some gastrointestinal issues for a few days and then was fine.  Except for one thing, after that incident he would only eat if I hand fed him.  And yes, that means for each meal for the past year and a half, I have hand fed him his meals.  Now, every once in a while he will eat on his own with me sitting next to him.  And every so often he will eat out of his bowl on his own, but these times are few and far in between. 

When this all started, I tried everything I could think of to get him to eat.  I gave him every different combination of food I could come up with. Served his food, warm, room temperature, and cold.  I even tried different bowls, thinking that he might not like his anymore.  All to no avail.  Chevy would only eat out of my hand.  

I also tried, when he wouldn't eat on his own, taking his morning meal away after a certain period of time, which worked.  He would eat his dinner no problem.  After a few days of that, I read that one meal for a senior dog wasn't a good idea.  So it was back to hand feeding.  It bothered me for a while, but it has become a bonding time.  And especially with Sadie here, his appetite has picked up.  I've never had a dog where food wasn't the most important thing in their lives, until we had Chevy.  

So, I may be doing it all wrong and I'm sure a trainer would tell me just that, but for Chevy and I it is the way we work together.  And as long as Chevy is eating, I could care less how he does it.  :)