Shortened to "Got the dog and followed" (9)
I believe the answer is:
curtailed
'shortened' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'dog and followed' is the wordplay.
'dog' becomes 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'followed' becomes 'tailed' (I've seen this in another clue).
'cur'+'tailed'='CURTAILED'
'to got the' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for curtailed that I've seen before include "Made short" , "docked" , "Broken off" , "limited" , "Clipped" .)