Avoid deer, holding leads of dogs gingerly (5)
I believe the answer is:
dodge
'avoid' is the definition.
(dodge can mean to avoid or evade)
'deer holding leads of dogs gingerly' is the wordplay.
'deer' becomes 'doe' (female deer).
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'leads of' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'leading' mean this).
The first letters of 'dogs gingerly' is 'dg'.
'doe' placed around 'dg' is 'DODGE'.
(Other definitions for dodge that I've seen before include "Move quickly out of the way of" , "Evasion" , "Avoid by quick movement" , "Avoid with subterfuge" , "Avoid by sudden movement" .)