Little doggy darlings with strings on? (7)
I believe the answer is:
puppets
'little doggy darlings with strings on?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'darlings with strings on?' is the wordplay.
'darlings' becomes 'pets' ('pet' can be a synonym of 'darling').
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'strings on?' becomes 'pup' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pets' put after 'pup' is 'PUPPETS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for puppets that I've seen before include "Dolls on strings" , "Stringfellows?" , "Marionettes" , "They're operated from above with strings" .)