Crossword Genius

Persistent animal gets exercise daily, using leads (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dogged

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

'persistent' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'animal gets exercise daily using leads' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'animal' could be 'dog' (type of animal) and 'dog' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ged' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dogged that I've seen before include "Pursued - unflagging" , "Determined in canine way" , "Stubborn, in a canine kind of way" , "Tenacious, persistent" , "Follow closely - persistent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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