Dog the Bounty Hunter

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Dog the Bounty Hunter
Cover of the season one DVD
Genre	Reality
Starring	Duane "Dog" Chapman Beth Smith Leland Chapman Duane Lee Chapman II 'Baby' Lyssa Chapman Tommy Diaz Gamal Mostafa Tim Chapman Justin Bihag
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	47
Production
Executive producer(s)	Daniel Elias Boris Lee Krutonog
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	A&E Network
Original run	August 30, 2004 – Present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show, chronicling Duane "Dog" Chapman's operations in his bounty hunting firm, Da Kine Bail Bonds in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dog is joined in his exploits by his wife and business partner, Beth Smith Chapman, his sons Leland and Duane Lee, and Tim Chapman.^[1] His nephew Justin Bihag also appeared during the first season. Besides Hawaii, newer episodes have included cases in Dog Chapman's home state of Colorado and the city of San Francisco. Most episodes have been filmed in the city of Honolulu. He claims to have captured over 7,000 bail jumpers and criminals.^[2]

While the program mostly follows Chapman and his team's pursuits against actual criminals who violated the conditions of their bail, it also shows his life as a husband, as a father to some of his twelve children, and as an ex-convict. Chapman and Smith were married on May 20, 2006^[3]. Dog's compassionate side is frequently on display, as he looks for ways to coach his catches back to the right path.

The program spun off from their appearance in the A&E Network's Take This Job, a program about people with unusual occupations. Both shows are produced for A&E by Hybrid Films, a New York-based production company.

Their bail bond business, Da Kine Bail Bonds, has locations on the islands of Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island. The Oahu office is located at 1383 Queen Emma St. in Honolulu.

1 2006 Arrest
2 In popular culture
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links
- 5.1 News articles

[edit] 2006 Arrest

Main Article: Duane Chapman 2006 arrest & extradition proceedings.

At approximately 6:00 am Hawaiian time on September 14, 2006, Duane Chapman, his son Leland and Tim Chapman ^[1] were arrested by US Marshals at the request of the Mexican government, on charges of bounty hunting, which is illegal in Mexico. On June 18, 2003, the Chapman trio captured convicted fugitive rapist Andrew Luster (heir to Max Factor cosmetics), who had fled to Mexico. Duane, Leland and Tim have since been released on bail ($300,000 for Duane and $100,000 each for the other two).^[4]

On February 16, 2007, a Mexican Federal court ruled that Duane, Leland, and Tim should be extradited to Mexico to face charges of deprivation of liberty. The Chapmans are looking into their legal options to prevent this.

[edit] In popular culture

Duane Chapman's book "You Can Run But You Can't Hide: The Life and Times of Dog the Bounty Hunter" was to be set for a February 2007 release, but after his arrest, and extradition case, his book will now be released on Father's Day - June 17 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Dog and his crew were parodied in the tenth season South Park episode "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy." Cartman portrayed Dog, but was a hall monitor rather than a bounty hunter. In this episode, Cartman would chase around students accusing them of being ice heads.

[edit] Trivia

The theme tune is Ozzy Osbourne's Dog, The Bounty Hunter, included on the Prince of Darkness Album.
There have been multiple legal defense fund raising accounts set up for Duane, Leland, and Tim including one set up by Tonja "Doe," a victim of Andrew Luster.