I have a beautiful Male Alaskian malamute. He is 18 months old and is very very gentle. He is great around strangers of all ages. He has only two issues...One he is a fussy fussy eatter..and two, HE STEALS..anything in reach and takes it outside the doggie door to his yard...The doggie door goes out to my open deck porch which leads down to a fenced in yard for him. He grabs anything and runs with it out the door... usually he is WAITING for you to chase him to get it! ( I feel it's for attention) Unfortunately, I can't ignore him doing this, because it's usually something important....such as cell phones, alarm clocks, wallets or shoes... We put everything up...out of site and out of reach.. he roams the house, like a criminal, scanning for items... when he seaks one... he'll look right at you and then grab and run! I wish I could brake him of this... Any suggestions?

Your dog is testing your patience, and being the very intelligent dog that he is, has found a way to get you to chase him. These dogs must have constant and lengthy exercise, as they are very high energy dogs, as pups. Yours is 18 months old, but he will still be extremely energetic.If I were you I would take him runing for as long as you can, in the morning and again in the evening.
It will be very hard to tire this dog out, but that's what he needs. I hope you're into jogging! Good luck with him.
What food are you presently feeding ?

Your one hundred percent right... if I tired him out.. he wouldn't be looking for me to chase him! It's just hard to find the time, since my husband has been diagnosed and treated for stage 3 cancer... I'm just so worn out.. from doing all the manly chores, the caregiving and my usual wifely/motherly chores of laundry etc. Plus I can't sleep... get only 4-5 hrs a nite if lucky. But I will try to fit these runs in! He is so fussy... He is not like my other two....who ate anything and everything. If you dropped a t-bone steak on the ground...this one would turn up his nose.. BUT if you try pealing a potato or carrot.. he goes crazy. Right now I am mixing a 1/3 can of chicken/rice "pedigree" with a cup of good dry dog food... 2x a day... This works once in awhile... sometimes he only eats once a day...some times he won't eat the entire day. First it was due to being raised as a puppy on this mush from the breeder.. she explained for me to brake him into regular dog food since this stuff could only be bought in brooklyn and runs 85.00 a bag.. so in the beginning he would choke on dog food.. so we had to brake him into chewing...using little bits dog food.. He still doesn't know how to really eat...but with the can food wetting the dogfood .. it works some of the time.

But I do have to say one thing, "Nash" my alaskian malamute has made all this cancer stuff MENTALLY easier. He distracts me of it. BUT the distraction of stealing is wearing me out.. ha ha ha ha DOGS CAN ADD ALOT of love,comfort and joy when you are depressed.