Be honest, a bit of grooming's needed for exhibition dogs (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
fair dos
'exhibition dogs' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'be honest a bit of grooming's needed' is the wordplay.
'be honest' becomes 'fair' (similar in meaning).
'a bit of grooming' becomes 'dos' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'needed' says to put letters next to each other.
'fair'+'dos'='FAIR DOS'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for fair dos that I've seen is " Equal treatment".)