Suspect dopey lot has a ball for a dog (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
toy poodle
'a dog' is the definition.
(toy poodle is a kind of dog)
'suspect dopey lot has a ball' is the wordplay.
'suspect' indicates an anagram (a suspicious or unusual spelling).
'has' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a ball' becomes 'o' (O looks like a ball).
'dopey'+'lot'='dopeylot'
'dopeylot' is an anagram of 'toypodle'.
'toypodle' enclosing 'o' is 'TOY POODLE'.
'for' is the link.
(Another definition for toy poodle that I've seen is " Miniature curly-haired dog".)