Pioneer’s dog found in lake? On the contrary (7)
I believe the answer is:
settler
'pioneer's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'found in lake? on the contrary' is the wordplay.
'found in' becomes 'sett' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'lake?' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'on' becomes 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to').
'the contrary' says the letters should be written backwards.
're' backwards is 'er'.
'sett'+'l'+'er'='SETTLER'
'dog' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for settler that I've seen before include "Coloniser - arbitrator" , "decisive blow" , "Early mover into an area" , "who pays his bills" , "One colonising new area" .)