[yorkietalkjilly]

I'm assuming he's not a young puppy and just teething, at which time they do chew everything in sight. I'm going to assume he's a grown dog and has a bad habit of gnawing furniture. If he is a puppy, ignore this post and just re-direct him until he's through teething stage. Since you don't give much information about his lifestyle, I've got to make a lot of assumptions here about why dogs usually chew on furniture and if they don't apply, please just disregard them. I'm posting on the most likely situation which causes the most dogs to chew on furniture or our possessions.

He's probably bored and frustrated and it's an OCD displacement type behavior, something he does out of frustration, stress, boredom, loneliness or nerves. I'd gate him off from most furniture, tape tinfoil over the furniture I can't keep him from and get him busy with a much more challenging and active life so that he takes the time you are away to rest and sleep and await your coming home and the time fun life starts.

Look up how to train obedience on Google and start in active obedience training and if he is already being trained, increase his sessions to 3 - 4 5 minute sessions a day for a total of 15 - 20 minutes total. A dog well-trained in obedience rarely is destructive. Buy him several interactive toys and feed him his meals only from them so that he has to work to get his breakfast and dinner. He'll love it! Get him actively walking 2 - 3 times a day. Play challenging games with him and you can Google those and get some ideas. Take him outside frequently so he can explore and work out excess energy and frustrations out and about. Agility training can tame even the most ardent chewers sometimes! They are so pleasantly tired and all their tensions gone, they just plop down and rest when left to their own devices. Toss balls and frisbees for your baby to run to get.

Your dog can't chew his nails, kick his foot over and over or smoke when he's nervous or frustrated. He can't go read a book or give himself a pep talk. He can chew to work out his frustrations and worries but keeping him challenged learning and busy working and training can give him a new outlook on life and give him a new confidence and calm attitude.

Don't forget to have those loving sessions of just hugs, tummy rubs and sweet-talking him, where you just sit and enjoy him a couple times or more each day. Times when you tell him how terrific he is, how pretty and sweet. Talk right to him. He'll understand and soak it up.

Don't smack his behind for his chewing again. He will just grow to dislike you, lose trust in you and it will make him more nervous and worried - he'll want to chew more - not understanding why you would take his one thing away that he uses to relieve him stress or nerves - his chewing. That's all he's got right now unless you give him a different kind of life full of action, exercise, challenge, work, lots of love and fun.

Again, I've just posted suggestions about why most dogs chew and have to be re-homed and addressed how to correct that type of dog. If it doesn't apply, post more info on your dog's lifestyle and we can go from there.