A dog, note, given to Stan's partner
I believe the answer is:
collie
'a dog' is the definition.
(collie is a kind of dog)
'note given to stan's partner' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'c' (musical note).
'given to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'stan's partner' becomes 'ollie' (Ollie Hardy, comedy partner of Stan Laurel).
'c'+'ollie'='COLLIE'
(Other definitions for collie that I've seen before include "See 2" , "Scottish sheep dog" , "Farm dog" , "Breed of dog" , "Border dog" .)