Hound intrinsically adorable (9)
I believe the answer is:
persecute
'hound' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'intrinsically adorable' is the wordplay.
'intrinsically' becomes 'per se' (per se means intrinsically or in itself).
'adorable' becomes 'cute' (both can mean lovable).
'perse'+'cute'='PERSECUTE'
(Other definitions for persecute that I've seen before include "victimise" , "Persistently harass" , "Dog" , "Oppress, cause to suffer" , "Oppress, harass" .)