we have leather furniture and a dog, when we had our old dog a huge yellow lab it did scratch up the leather.But now we have a smaller yorkie puppy and he doesn't seem to bother with it (I think it's because he's so small).So I think if you have a small dog there would be less "damage".

P.S. we have two cats and the also enjoy using the arm of the couch as a scratch pad!

~Good luck