Who you callin' ugly?

Baltimore's Ugliest Pets!

When we set out to find Baltimore's Ugliest Pet, it was with the understanding that there is something wonderfully, tragically, undeniably beautiful about a funny looking animal. You guys apparently agreed, sending us pictures of bulldog Tulip who is "sloped and wrinkly, jowly and pale and pink, slightly naked looking," writes owner Alicia Gabriel; Jack Russell Willy, the "Keith Richard of dogs," according to owner Beth Bates; and pit bull Mahhvelous, whose "true spirit shines through the ugly," says owner Stacy Williams. But our hearts were stolen by Violet, the jaw-jutted, scraggly-haired, snaggle-toothed "jug" (that's Jack Russell/pug) owned by Kim Koenig. "People laugh at her in the park," says Koenig. "They can't help themselves." But worry not, says Koenig, Violet has no self-esteem issues to speak of. "She thinks she's a stud."

Issue date: January, 2009