Law-abiding bite done badly (8)
I believe the answer is:
obedient
'law-abiding' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'bite done badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates an anagram (letters in the wrong order).
'bite'+'done'='bitedone'
'bitedone' with letters rearranged gives 'OBEDIENT'.
(Other definitions for obedient that I've seen before include "Like monk" , "Willing to comply" , "A good dog should be" , "Submissive, biddable" , "Doing as one's told" .)