Dog the Bounty Hunter

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Dog the Bounty Hunter
Cover of the season one DVD
Genre	Reality
Running time	30 minutes
Executive producer(s)	Daniel Elias Boris Lee Krutonog
Starring	Duane "Dog" Chapman Beth Smith Leland Chapman Tommy Diaz Gamal Mostafa Tim Chapman Justin Bihag Duane Lee Chapman II
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	A&E Network
Original run	August 30, 2004–Present
No. of episodes	47
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 his associate, Tim "Youngblood" Chapman. 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 6,000 bail jumpers and criminals.

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, a father to some of his twelve children and an ex-convict. Chapman and Smith were married on May 20, 2006. Dog's human 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.

[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 were arrested by US Marshals at the request of the Mexican government. Duane, Leland and Tim were arrested for 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. Luster is currently serving a 124 year prison sentence for raping three women. Duane, Leland and Tim have since been released on bail ($300,000 for Duane and $100,000 each for the other two)[1] and are awaiting an extradition hearing in November 2006.

[edit] Trivia

The theme tune is Ozzy Osbourne's Dog, The Bounty Hunter, included on the Prince of Darkness Album.

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 has since been indefinitely postponed.

There have been multiple legal defense funds for Duane, Leland, and Tim including one set up by Tonja "Doe," a victim of Andrew Luster.

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.