Spooner’s dog ideal for baby (11)

I believe the answer is:

mollycoddle

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'spooner's' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'dog ideal for baby' is the wordplay.
'dog ideal' becomes 'molly' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'baby' becomes 'coddle' (synonyms).
'molly'+'coddle'='MOLLYCODDLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mollycoddle that I've seen before include "Indulge" , "Treat with excessive TLC" , "Spoil" , "Treat overprotectively" , "Cosset" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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