Stay in front and keep your dog with you (4,3,4)

I believe the answer is:

hold the lead

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stay in front' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'keep your dog with you' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'keep' could be 'hold' (both can mean to have or possess something) and 'hold' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

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