Father going round church to avoid dog (9)
I believe the answer is:
dachshund
'dog' is the definition.
(dachshund is a kind of dog)
'father going round church to avoid' is the wordplay.
'father going' becomes 'dad' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'round' indicates putting letters inside.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'to avoid' becomes 'shun' (shunning is a kind of avoiding).
'ch'+'shun'='chshun'
'dad' going around 'chshun' is 'DACHSHUND'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dachshund that I've seen before include "Long-bodied, short-legged breed of dog" , "low-down dog" , "Sausage 11" , "Long, low dog" , "Small dog (from Germany?)" .)