Bark and fight close to doghouse (6)
I believe the answer is:
scrape
'bark' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'fight close to doghouse' is the wordplay.
'fight' becomes 'scrap' (I've seen this before).
'close to' suggests the final letters (the close/ending of).
The final letter of 'doghouse' is 'e'.
'scrap'+'e'='SCRAPE'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for scrape that I've seen before include "Play a violin badly" , "Rasp or abrade" , "Scratch the surface in a predicament" , "Thinly-spread butter" , "Graze - awkward predicament" .)