Raptors hunting dogs with no lead (6)
I believe the answer is:
eagles
'raptors' is the definition.
(eagle is a kind of raptor)
'hunting dogs with no lead' is the wordplay.
'hunting dogs' becomes 'beagles' (beagle is a kind of hunting dog).
'with no lead' means to remove the first letter (the letter which leads the word is removed).
'beagles' with its initial letter removed is 'EAGLES'.
(Other definitions for eagles that I've seen before include "Large birds of prey" , "Soaring birds of prey (6)" , "Great birds in eyries" , "They nest in eyries" , "band" .)