In the New York of 2009, 150 "monster" dogs arrive by helicopter and chartered plane, dressed in the clothing of 19th-century Prussian burghers, speaking through surgically implanted voice boxes, able to perform the tasks of humans by virtue of prosthetic hands and enhanced intelligence. The dogs come from a remote village in Canada. German followers of a mad visionary, Augustus Rank, have worked there since 1882 to create a superior race of canine...