A useful piece of advice you got at the kennels? (7)
I believe the answer is:
pointer
'a useful piece' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'of advice you got at the kennels?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
'at' could be 'in' (synonymous in some cases - eg at school, in school) and 'in' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'per' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pointer that I've seen before include "Smooth-haired game-dog" , "Sign" , "Hint (for a dog?)" , "Indicator" , "under control of mouse" .)