I swap or distract.
Some dogs learn to gain attention by stealing or chewing the wrong thing - remembering that even negative attention is better than being ignored - it is better to distract the dog away and look at a solution to prevent the dog from being able to do the action again, or teach a command for the dog to leave (It will always come back to training the dog in controlled situations).
I will never take something from a puppy just because, I will always swap - teaching him that it is good for me to be around and it is a nice thing for him to give it up to me as opposed to taking something away.
If it a really high value (the only thing my boy growled about was a lamb breast, which was of course very high value), I try and ensure I have something equally good or I distract away, going to a different room, playing with a toy, throwing some food about.
Possession is a funny thing with dogs - they are well within their rights (from their point of view) to protect that. I have no problems with dogs growling, it is a warning system and I do not want to get rid of that, it tells me the dog is not happy for some reason, IMO, it is my job to find the reason and teach the dog that it can trust me.
When Zeff growled (when I went near him eating - I had not attempted to take it away), the next time, I cut some strips off and as he was eating, I offered him another bot from my hand, then the next bit etc, until (after about 3 gos) he was fine with me walking about and would even give up the item without argument, Even a high value thing like a dead rabbit.
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