Crossword Genius

Dog sprays saliva in your ear (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spitz

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

'dog sprays' is the definition.
'spitz' can be an answer for 'dog' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'sprays' bit.

'saliva in your ear' is the wordplay.
'saliva' becomes 'spit' (synonyms).
'in your ear' becomes 'z' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'spit'+'z'='SPITZ'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spitz that I've seen before include "Mark --, US swimmer" , "Little dog" , "eg Samoyed" , "Pomeranian dog" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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