Crossword Genius

Not pettish so much as animal loving (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

doggy

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'not pettish so much' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'animal loving' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'dog' (type of animal).
'loving' becomes 'gy' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'dog'+'gy'='DOGGY'

'as' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for doggy that I've seen is " Like canine animals".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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