dog growls in face when he is angry

[kristashine]

i have a 2yo australian cattle dog, fixed male. he is a wonderful dog except for his growling.
it seems to be an emotional reaction.
when we leave him at home, when guests are over, when he wants attention, when he doesnt want to be touched, etc.

he growls visously and gets in your face.
we have tried all kinds of things with consistancy and after we saw no improvement tried a different tactic with consistancy. so far nothing has worked at all.
we tried ignoring him when he does it (which cuases him to growl louder nad get more in your face and finally barking in your face or bitting your pants)
we tired saying NO firmly (which again makes him growl louder), we tried yelling NO loudly (again makes him louder), we have tried time out in his crate, we have tried distraction by trying to get him to sit or give his paw (whcih worked sometimes at first but normally he is too upset to do that).

any advice would be great.