Perky butt, saggy jowls. Perfect.

Texan beauty queens can step aside; the Lone Star state has a new top dog.

Liberty Soft Tail Huntress, a 4-year-old bulldog nicknamed Libby, was judged best female dog this week in Spokane in the open class at the 2007 Bulldog Club of America National Specialty.

“I don’t even know how many bitches were in the class, but there were a lot,” said the bulldog’s proud owner, Candace Bonnet, of Austin, Texas.

More than 300 bulldogs from around the country are converging at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park for the bulldog convention and competition, which ends Saturday. Most floors in the hotel have been lined with plastic in case of a doggie accident. And the dogs aren’t allowed anywhere else.

Convention co-chairwoman Sharon Dykes said: “Winning in the national show is a prestigious win.”

And Libby knew it. On Wednesday, she was outside frolicking with some of the other saggy-jowled dogs and wiggling her furry bottom. But other than that little bit of showing off, the girl was not pretentious.

“She has such a cute butt,” said Bonnet, who drove nearly 2,000 miles for the event. She was accompanied by Dowats the Contender – a bulldog nicknamed Rocky – and his owner from Fort Worth, Texas.

According to the humans, Rocky and Libby had a fling that resulted in nearly a dozen pups. The offspring are about 11 weeks old now, and the canine couple seemed gleeful about the trip away from home.

This is the first time the bulldog convention has been held in Spokane, said Dykes, who was pleased with the city and the accommodations next to Riverfront Park.

It’s apparently only coincidental that the group came to the home of the Gonzaga Bulldogs – and, no, Spike wasn’t entered in the competition.

On Wednesday, several bulldogs socialized on the hotel lawn.

Rocky and Libby were joined by 6-month-old Finnley, a buff-and-white bulldog sporting a pink camouflage jacket, and Major Leagues Ruby Dooby (Ruby for short) a brindle-and-white, but naked, bulldog.

The group played well – no growling, just sniffing.

“They just want others to come into their territory and play,” said Ruby’s owner, Andrea Carpenter, of Nelson, B.C.

While there were portable potty stations all around, if one of the dogs had slipped up and gone on the lawn, Dykes said, people were told to call a “code brown” for cleanup.

The hotel parking lot was filled with cars from other states, some with specialty plates or window signs signifying a passion for their pooches: “Bulldogs are beautiful.” Another car proclaimed: “English Bulldogs rule the road,” while a pickup from Ione, Wash., boasted “BULDOGR” on its license plate.

The American Kennel Club says bulldogs should be “equable and kind, resolute and courageous (not vicious or aggressive)” with a demeanor that’s dignified. Owners at the Red Lion compared them to children.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve had one of these own ya,” Carpenter said.