Take place of child originally next to dog (5)
I believe the answer is:
occur
'take place' is the definition.
(I know that take place can be written as occur)
'of child originally next to dog' is the wordplay.
'originally' says to take the initial letters.
'next to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'dog' becomes 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person).
The first letters of 'of child' is 'oc'.
'oc'+'cur'='OCCUR'
(Other definitions for occur that I've seen before include "Turn up" , "exist" , "appear" , "Come to pass" , "Happen, transpire" .)