Steal and Destroy missions!

the only thing i can think of is luring him into the act so you can catch him. if you know there's something he can't resist taking put it in eye view and wait for him to go for it, and then react. "trade" won't eliminate the habit because he's already commited the crime. "leave it" will work with some dogs, but they need to view you as their leader first. your dog seems to be very persistant. you might want to try lead training inside the house. just put the lead on and let the dog walk around with it on. if you have an item already baited for the dog then when he goes towards it give him a quick and sharp tug on the lead with either a "no" or "shh" command. maybe try it with some food on a low table first and work your way up. it'll take many times doing this over and over. if you scream and hollar though when you've got the dog in the act they'll just get more excited...kind of like how the dog reacts to the boobytrapped loud sound.

keeping stuff away from the dog should not need to be an option. the dog needs to learn boundaries and know that it can only take things when he's allowed to. everything is trial and error. one thing you might want to think about is how the dog is supposed to know which items are his and which are yours. you might want to try taking all of his toys away for a couple of days (your dog should see you do this) and then re-introduce him to one toy at a time on your terms...like when he's calm you can give him a toy.

just taking a wild guess...if none of this works then i hope you can find something that does.

goodluck!

I agree the dog needs to learn boundaries, but I don't think he needs a sharp leash correction.
 
Moreso, I think he hasn't earned the freedom your giving him yet. My dog, when she was younger, used to do the same things yours it doing... I restricted her by a 4-6ft leash tied either to my waste, the chair I was sitting at, or a heavy object near where I was sitting. If had to do something where this was just not possible or would make something very difficult (like vaccuuming), I crated her. She's gotten a lot better at things as well, but is still not perfect. Stimulating his mind and giving him more excersize might help. Give him a stuffed kong or buster cube. Play hide and seek. Hide treats around the house (show him as you hide them), bring him back to the starting point, and make him find them all, mostly by memory. Teach him a ton of tricks and have frequent training sessions.
 
I think, along with leave it, you need to teach a good, solid "drop it".

i agree with everything you said. stimulating the mind is key. i used to do the hide and seek games with my other dog and he absolutely loved it.  although that didn't stop his destructive behaviour. stuffed kongs work very well for some dogs. i hope your is one of them.

i should clarify that the purpose the lead correction serves is to mimic the behaviour of the dog's mother. a sharp tug acts like a quick nip at the neck which is what the mother would use to tell the pup it's behaviour is unacceptable. you can use your hand to mimic this same behaviour with a quick poke but a lot of people don't know how to properly do this, nor feel comfortable doing this.

does this dog receive long regular walks every day? 

Thanks for the ideas. To answer some questions: He's a high energy furball. He gets an hour long walk in the morning, he's not in the crate while I'm at work (He's fine when we're not home), an hour long walk when I get home. Then he gets a play session in the back yard or in the house, if it's raining. We do hide and seek (It's one of his favorites.)

I don't make a fuss when he steals something, because I don't want him using it as a game. If he wants a chase, there's one of his toys that we use exclusively for that. I try to play with him a bit whenever he brings it over, as a reward for using his toy.

Trainers had recommended the loud noise and the leash correction. We've done all of those in the past. He's very good about "leave it" or "drop it" when he's on the leash. When we got him, this was such a minor issue compared to the others he had, that we didn't nip it in the bud when we should have.

I like the luring him in idea. Now that I'm thinking about it, he hasn't stolen one of the remote controls, since I caught him in the act and instantly made him do a "down-stay" and practiced "leave it". I guess I'll just try that with some more objects.

Thanks for helping!