Dog lies awkwardly about the vessel (7)
I believe the answer is:
spaniel
'dog' is the definition.
(spaniel is a kind of dog)
'lies awkwardly about the vessel' is the wordplay.
'awkwardly' is an anagram indicator.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the vessel' becomes 'pan' (vessel or container for cooking).
'lies' anagrammed gives 'siel'.
'siel' going around 'pan' is 'SPANIEL'.
(Other definitions for spaniel that I've seen before include "Kind of dog, may be a cocker" , "[HOUND]" , "Dog with drooping ears" , "Gundog; obsequious type" , "Droopy-ear dog" .)