Dog takes the German stew (7)
I believe the answer is:
chowder
'stew' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'dog takes the german' is the wordplay.
'dog' becomes 'chow' (chow is a kind of dog).
'takes' says to put letters next to each other.
'the german' becomes 'der' ('the' in German).
'chow'+'der'='CHOWDER'
(Other definitions for chowder that I've seen before include "dish in America" , "Thick seafood soup" , "Thick fish stew" , "Rich soup with fish, clams etc." , "Rich seafood soup" .)