Dogs might be best to guard the animal (7)
I believe the answer is:
bassets
'dogs' is the definition.
(basset is a kind of dog)
'might be best to guard the animal' is the wordplay.
'might be' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'to guard' indicates putting letters inside.
'the animal' becomes 'ass' (I've seen this before).
'best' anagrammed gives 'bets'.
'bets' placed around 'ass' is 'BASSETS'.
(Other definitions for bassets that I've seen before include "Hounds with short legs and long ears" , "Dogs" .)