a doorway, the dog awaits his end awash in self-pity. To his surprise, a successful surgeon, Filipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky (whose name is derived from 'transformation' or 'transfiguration'), arrives and offers the dog a piece of sausage. Overjoyed, the dog follows Filip back to his flat, where he's given the name of Sharik. The dog finds it ironic, as he sees 'Sharik' fit for a pampered fat dog (it means 'little ball'). At the house, Sharik gets to know Dr. Preobrazhensky's household, which includes Doctor Ivan Arnoldovich Bormenthal (the professor's student and protégé) and two female servants: Zinaida Prokofievna Bunina and Darya Petrovna Ivanova. Despite the Professor's vocal anti-communism, his frequent medical treatment of the RCP(b) leadership makes him untouchable. As a result, he refuses to decrease his seven-room flat and treats the Bolsheviks on the housing committee, led by Schwonder, with unveiled contempt. Impressed by his new master, Sharik slips easily into the role of "a gentleman's dog". After several days, one of the servants begins taking Sharik for walks through Moscow. Preening in his new collar, Sharik is unmoved by the taunts of a passing stray. After his health improves, the Professor at last reveals his real intentions for taking in Sharik. As Filip's laboratory is prepared, he locks Sharik in the bathroom. As a seething Sharik plots to again destroy Filip's stuffed owl, the door opens and he is dragged by the skin of his neck into the lab. There, he is sedated and an operation begins. As Bormenthal assists, the Professor trepans Sharik's skull and gives him a human pituitary gland. Sharik's torso is also opened and he is given human testicles. These organs were cut from Klim Grigorievich Chugunkin – killed in a brawl – thief-recidivist, an alcoholic and a bully. Only repeated injections of adrenaline prevent the dog from dying on the operating table. It is after this point that the story shifts from being told from the perspective of Sharik to being told from the perspective of Bormenthal, via his notes on the case, and then finally to a third person perspective. During the weeks after the operation, the household is stunned as Sharik begins transforming into an incredibly unkempt and, at first, primitive human. After building an alliance with Schwonder, the former canine is granted papers under the absurd name "Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov". Preobrazhensky wanted to pick a name from his Orthodox Christian