Scares off pet (6)
I believe the answer is:
caress
'pet' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'scares off' is the wordplay.
'off' is an anagram indicator.
'scares' is an anagram of 'CARESS'.
(Other definitions for caress that I've seen before include "show of affection" , "Gentle affectionate stroking" , "Touch with affection" , "Scares with loving gesture" , "Scares with loving stroke" .)