how to stop a four month old pup from stealing?

Easy. Do not give him ANY attention (positive or neg) when he steals. This is why he does it, because everyone gets such a big laugh!!

Ok, first you have to understand that dogs don't steal. They can't, because their brains aren't capable of understanding the concept of personal property. They literally don't recognize "yours" and "mine" -- a dog owns whatever it has in its mouth, and only until it either spits it out or swallows it.

Next, understand that running off with fun things is a "self-reinforcing" behavior -- other words, it's so much fun, that every time he does it, he gets rewarded for it, and that reward overwhelms anything you can do to try to make him leave it alone, when you turn your back.

Finally, you must realize that at 4 months old, that pup is still pre-adolescent.

As he ages, his interest in your shoes and eyeglasses and iphone and purse and pillows and cushions will go away -- I promise -- but in the meantime, when he manages to shred something, or leave your TV remote out in the rain, or whatever, you have to accept responsibility for it -- it's your fault not his. You have to keep him out of trouble by denying him access to anything you don't want shredded.

Teach him the "drop it" and "leave it" commands -- it's a lot easier than it sounds, they catch on to these pretty quick -- so you can make him drop stuff and leave it alone when you see it happening. But unfortunately, those commands just don't stack up to the fun a 16-week-old puppy can have with just about anything he sees.

Trust me on this, if there was another solution, I'd know about it by now.

My nine-month-old ridgeback has now gone about a month without tearing anything up. All the dogs I raised before, I never had a chewer until now. They say labs stay in that stage for years.

good luck

It actually starts with feeding. When you feed your dog make it sit and wait until you give it a command to eat. Make it wait at least 20 seconds before you tell it to eat. This will calm you dog down and it will learn that you are in control of what it can and can't have. Don't feed it titbits either. It is very important that you are strict with this regime.

Train him to leave it have a look on utube for some answers or Victoria stillwell dog trainner x

Shout at it when it robs the things it is stealing. Do NOT force him to drop the thing is has stolen. Just make sure he is afraid when he is shouted at. This worked with my dog.