Note: Translated by M. Ginsburg

Synopsis: This novel's unlikely hero is a dog, a scroungy mongrel of strong opinions named Sharik. One day a Russian scientist, famous for his rejuvenation treatments, takes the dog home to use in a new experiment. In an operation he replaces Sharik's pituitary gland and testes with those of a petty criminal who has been killed in a bar fight. As a result of this double transplant, the dog turns into Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov - a man of vulgar habits who reads Engels and gets a job in an official department to purge the city of cats. His many misadventures, lecherous behavior, and final denunciation of the doctor himself, drive the exasperated scientist to take most extraordinary measures.