Stealing in Dogs

Question
What are the possible psychological purposes of why dogs steal things such as food off the table? What causes them to try it, or is there any satisfaction or possessiveness involved?

Answer
It is esp common in dogs that have a history of being starved such as dogs that come from rescues or shelters,and they had to learn to fight for every crumb they could get,and learned to take advantage of any situation they can find

Also it is an instinct,as wolves scavenge and will also take any food they can get

The reward is the food itself,there is no real psychological purpose for such behavior in dogs,but it can be in other 'higher' animals such as Chimpanzees

Dogs pretty much take food whenever the chance rises,even in dogs that have always been well cared for-as dogs don't 'know' when there next meal will be,or if you will always feed them

Stealing food from the table,however can become a problem for many owners,and the two ways that work best for solving it is either to put food on the table on purpose(is done for either way)and you put something hot down,such as a chili pepper,but this doesn't bother some dogs,while others only do this for a few times and learn,the other way is attach a leash to a chock chain,and when the dog goes to grab the food,the owner 'pops' the leash back and yells 'leave it' That method can also be used with loud noises as an alternative to the chock chain and leash(also might not work on a lot of dogs)