Downbeat dog's head and tail (5)
I believe the answer is:
drear
'downbeat dog's head and tail' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'dog's head and tail' is the wordplay.
'head' indicates taking the first letters.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'tail' becomes 'rear' (synonyms).
The first letter of 'dogs' is 'd'.
'd'+'rear'='DREAR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for drear that I've seen before include "miserable" , "Dismal (literary)" , "Poetic dull and uninteresting" , "grave" , "gloomy in poem" .)