Dog’s date of birth, guy gives after hesitation (8)
I believe the answer is:
doberman
'dog's' is the definition.
(Doberman is an example)
'date of birth guy gives after hesitation' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'date' could be 'd' (common abbreviation eg in DOB, date of birth) and 'd' is located in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'guy' could be 'man' (guy can informally mean a man) and 'man' is located in the answer.
'hesitation' could be 'er' (sound used when hesitating) and 'er' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'b' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for doberman that I've seen before include "...pinscher, large dog" , "Originally German breed of watchdog" , "Barker" , "Long-legged terrier" , "Dog used as guard - bond mare (anag)" .)