Gourmets starting eating pies take in the scruffy dog (8)
I believe the answer is:
epicures
'gourmets' is the definition.
('epicure' can be a synonym of 'gourmet')
'starting eating pies take in the scruffy dog' is the wordplay.
'starting' indicates taking the first letters.
'take in' indicates putting letters inside.
'the scruffy dog' becomes 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person. I am not sure about the 'scruffy' bit.).
The initial letter of 'eating' is 'e'.
'pies' enclosing 'cur' is 'picures'.
'e'+'picures'='EPICURES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for epicures that I've seen before include "They know about eating" , "those with refined tastes" .)