11 month old male just neutered beagle named duke

Question
i have two questions.  first, in the few weeks or so he has been chewing on everything my rugs, sofa, pillows, his brand new bed and grabbing things such as socks and shoes and walking around with them in his mouth. He is even eating sticks outside.  Second, he has to be where ever i am.  If i go outside he cries, if i go take a shower he lays on the bathroom floor, if i am on the laptop he rests his head on my lap.  And i cannot leave him alone in the house because he refuses to go into his crate. (a little background on him, it was my son's girlfriends dog since a pup, she had to give him up because of housing issues at school, i got him about 2 months ago.  She gave him to another family first, but he was too much for the mother to handle the woman is not well and was only with them for one week.  I got him next, at that time he did not chew on anything he was not supposed to but he was very clingy to me. since he started his chewing i have blocked off certain areas of my house with gates, wondering if this has added to the problem since he always went where ever he wanted.)  

just a little note. other than the above he is a friendly, smart, loving dog and he is my best friend.

Answer
First off congrats and lucky boy to have been saved by you, sounds like he made the rounds!
At this age he is getting his back molars in and dogs going thru this are DRIVEN to chew. He needs to have lots of alternative items to chew, nylabones, rawhide (but keep an eye on him with these and take away when small enough to swallow), stuffed Kongs (which can also be frozen and relieve the teething pain), etc. Everytime you find him with something in his mouth that is a no-no, take it away and immediately give him one of these and tell him "good boy"!

Secondly sounds like he is experiencing separation anxiety, this may be due to all the places he went before you and/or just part of his personality but you may inadvertantly reinforcing this..... You need to not encourage this.... when you take a shower shut the door and let him stay outside it, dont respond to whining or crying in any way and when you open the door once again do the excited "good boy!". Don't allow him to be on your lap all the time, take time to teach him sit, lie down and STAY and make him do it by continuously putting him back in the spot if he egts up and telling him the commands again. There is no such thing as he wont go in his crate, put him in there. He needs to get used to being in there. When you leave him whether it be to go in another room or out the door dont talk to him or try to tell him everything will be ok, just be matter of act and leave. If you don't get this under control now he will continue to be very clingy and become destructive as well which is not good.

Also he needs socializing with other dogs and people. Take him on walks, go the the dog park, have other people walk him or play with him so he sees that it is ok and you will eventually be back.

Just really think about how without meaning to you might be encouraging these behaviors. He's a dog and he will follow his natural instincts, the only way he knows anything different is if you teach him.

Hope this helps!