Crossword Genius

Rein in dog on dog (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

curtail

'rein in' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'dog on dog' is the wordplay.
'dog' becomes 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'dog' becomes 'tail' (synonyms).
'cur'+'tail'='CURTAIL'

(Other definitions for curtail that I've seen before include "Cut short like canine appendage" , "Abbreviate" , "Shorten, abridge" , "make shorter" , "Cut short (an activity)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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