| He can really make a Toy Poodle's tail pound loudly | ELF | E + L + F |
| Best friend of dog returns for war briefly | NAM | man reversed |
| Girl lost without Doberman at the front | SHE | shed curtailed |
| Chihuahua's well being? Unfortunately, not good | BIEN | being* - G (definition = well in Spanish) |
| Reportedly, not many will feed a Greyhound? | FUEL | few'll homophone |
| Head of hair on a Chow Chow by the ears | MAIN | mane homophone |
| Officially mark animal that barks and does tricks with a ball | SEAL | double definition |
| Basset hound bears third son | SETH | hidden |
| Asta really holds on to celebrity | STAR | hidden |
| Feminine side of tailless dog, for example | ANIMA | animal curtailed |
| Trunk comes from pooches' torsos | CHEST | hidden |
| TV dog living in Seattle found in whirlpool by the Sound | EDDIE | eddy homophone |
| It's a lucky thing Britain is surrounded by more than half of fleas | FLUKE | fle containing UK |
| Gets better commands for a dog to follow when spoken | HEALS | heels |
| Playwright's rabid Boston Terrier losing to terror | IBSEN | (Boston Terrier - to terror)* |
| Go walking around for a word with Rover | RANGE | double definition |
| Note mangy dog come up a second time | RECUR | re + cur |
| Taunt Zero as "transparent" partially | ROAST | hidden |
| Twenty judge a dog show, perhaps | SCORE | double definition |
| In Europe, regionally elevated dog food shortage in east | ALPINE | Alpo curtailed + IN + E |
| Dogs of an African breed lacking as movie dogs | BENJIS | basenjis - as |
| Six Airedales in the lead in a vehicle with fancy food | CAVIAR | car containing (VI + A) |
| It has parts that are bent like a dog's leg — sounds rough | COURSE | coarse homophone |
| Pointer barked and he muttered obscenities | CURSER | cursor homophone |
| Confronted, I'd feed mongrel | DEFIED | (I'd feed)* |
| When you're dog tired you need this: Hawaii, then start tour in Australia | HIATUS | HI + AUS containing T |
| Whipped and ordered a sled with husky in the lead | LASHED | (a sled H)* |
| Mastiffs primarily upset makeshift cradle | MANGER | M + anger |
| Jewish texts speak of a sign in the sky northwest of Canis Major and Orion | TORAHS | Taurus homophone |
| A Vice Admiral with Red Setter attending Church of England is a sin | AVARICE | A + VA + R + I + CE |
| Mathematicians and chefs at times put up resistance to people who control their dogs | CURBERS | cubers + R |
| Made a dog into a God, for example... or the other way around; it's the same thing | DEIFIED | same both directions |
| Great Dane's tail entrancing ER staff is relevant | GERMANE | G + E containing ER + man |
| Again bring into line strange forces overwhelming Underdog initially | REFOCUS | forces* + U |
| Chinese breed drops plush tail for a massage | SHIATZU | Shih Tzu with H changed to A |
| Dog measurement taken by hand — in other words, length | SPANIEL | span + i.e. + L |
| Arizona is getting short mixed breed with height and angles used to locate points | AZIMUTHS | AZ + IS containing (mutt curtailed + H) |
| Disdainful spelunker takes Boxer | CAVALIER | caver containing Ali |
| Running out of energy, drinks water like a dog in last part of spring | ELAPSING | P + leading, D changed to S |
The answers can be arranged into sets of transdeletions with three words. The letter removed for the first transdeletion runs from A-M. By ordering the sets by these letters, the words can be arranged into a Laddergram style grid:
| ANIMA | A | MAIN | I | NAM |
| CURBERS | B | CURSER | S | RECUR |
| CHEST | C | SETH | T | SHE |
| LASHED | D | HEALS | H | SEAL |
| GERMANE | E | MANGER | M | RANGE |
| REFOCUS | F | COURSE | U | SCORE |
| ELAPSING | G | SPANIEL | S | ALPINE |
| TORAHS | H | ROAST | O | STAR |
| DEIFIED | I | DEFIED | F | EDDIE |
| BENJIS | J | IBSEN | S | BIEN |
| FLUKE | K | FUEL | U | ELF |
| CAVALIER | L | AVARICE | E | CAVIAR |
| AZIMUTHS | M | SHIATZU | Z | HIATUS |
The letters removed in each second transdeletion in this order spell the answer: ISTHMUS OF SUEZ