The unswerving loyalty of his father's wild dog, Jim Ugly, is the only thing Jake can depend on when his actor father disappears and leaves him alone on a quest for the truth through the frontier West. An ALA Notable Children's Book. Reprint.The unswerving loyalty of his father's wild dog, Jim Ugly, is the only thing Jake can depend on when his actor father disappears and leaves him alone on a quest for the truth through the frontier West.