Dog the Bounty Hunter

Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given

First thing’s first, what shall we call you? Dog? Mr Dog? Dog the Bounty Hunter? Mr Chapman? Big Duane?
Dog is perfect, thank you.

It’s 9am in Hawaii at the moment. What does a bounty hunter have for breakfast?
Today’s a light breakfast with a protein drink and some egg whites and maybe a pancake.

Really. No bacon? How disappointing…
Haha! No, we try to stay very healthy and light as we have a lot of work to do.

Over 6,000 captures in a 27-year career is busy work. What’s the most useful tool when hunting someone?
Money. Sometimes it’s ten dollars, sometimes it’s a hundred. Moneys talks and you know what walks. In both our countries that’s the same, right? In politics it’s the same as in religion as in crime.
The second most useful tool is a mobile phone. Every fugitive we chase these days seems to have some sort of communication device on them, so if you can crack into their network then you are halfway to finding them. And if you get their number you can ping them. [Track them when they make a call.]

Be dead hard doesn’t really make too much difference then?
Well, you have to be able to back up what you talk. My whole family work out on a daily basis, and have a good diet and get good rest to make sure our brains our in tune. Bounty hunting is a contact sport after all.

What’s been your most satisfying capture or do they all have equal merit?
The most satisfying is when the fugitive commits crimes against women and/or children. After getting someone like that off the streets you feel a great sense of worth to the community.

Who are the hardest people to catch? Slippery druggies? Conmen? People with sports cars?
Actually, the hardest guy to catch is the nice criminal. We probably all know these people, right? They don’t leave trails, they make good friends and people love them so much they won’t give them up.
We chased a guy a few years ago called The Gentlemen Bandit in Colorado who was very hard to catch because he was a gentleman. He’s not leaving pain and destruction behind him, so he becomes harder to track. 

Does it matter where they live?
We’ve chased guys that live in the jungle. We’ve chased guys that live in the desert. We chased guys that live in rocks. We’ve chased guys that live in the Trump Tower. And we’ve caught ’em all.

What’s the secret to a successful bounty?

Number 1: Having the passion to do it. And number 2) Relentless ruthlessness. I’ve been on bounties where other hunters and law enforcement agencies have quit two hours ago, but we don’t give up.

What motivates you where others fail?

We want to be the best. Tiger Woods would never give up. Barack Obama didn’t say “No!”. Jack Dempsey said: “Champions are trained to get up after they’re knocked down.” We remind ourselves of ourselves. “Remember when we stayed up all night that night and the guy was in the last house we checked?” “Remember when following that one last lead got us our man?” Babe Ruth struck out once in while too, but he always went right back up to the plate. And that’s what we do every time.

Is it more difficult catching guys now with a camera crew following you around?
No. It’s been seven years, so we’re used to it. And once the adrenaline’s flowing, you actually forget that there’s even a camera there. There’s good and bad points, but overall, because the fugitive lies – “he hit me in the mouth” “he broke in without permission” – all that stuff is on camera, so it helps us out.
In all honesty, we could never bounty hunt again without a camera.

You enjoy being a celebrity, don’t you?

I enjoy people saying “Hi” to me on the street, sure. I’ve been famous in my own mind since I was a kid. It sounds crazy but I always used to pretend that I was in the parade. My grandfather, God rest his soul, was an American-Indian and he used to say: “Son, you should practise signing your name because one day you will be signing autographs!” I used to sign the word “DOG” on bits of wood to get the practise in, so, yeah, I’m truly living my dream.

When did you get the name Dog?

I was raised as a God-fearing young man.  When I was 14 I joined a motorcycle gang. And when they would say: “Let’s go rob a church!” I would refuse because it was acting against God. So the president of my motorcycle club starting calling me Dog, which is God spelt backwards. He said that: 1) I was very loyal in a fight and 2) I constantly talked about God, and 3) that I was always there “Dog go hear here” “Dog fetch that” “I need this doing, where’s my Dog?” So that’s where I inherited the name really, when I was 15 years old. And it’s worked out okay. I mean, Dog the Bounty Hunter’s better than Duane the Bounty Hunter, right?

It has a certain ring to it, yes. What was the biggest thing you learnt from being in prison?
That I do not ever wanna go back. If there were girls there or if were allowed my wife there, then I wouldn’t have minded it. But of course, there were no women, you were told what to do and when to do it and all that. I don’t like that much authority. I don’t like the iron teepee. I didn’t understand why these guys would keep going back and back and back. If you hate it enough, like I did, then you don’t want to go back. I think some of them liked it.

You were once a Kirby Vac Salesman. Are there any similarities between that and being a bounty hunter?
I really don’t think so. I couldn’t get a job anywhere because of my record except door-to-door sales. And I was flogging the best vacuum cleaner on the market, so I felt pretty god about myself. I became number one in the nation at doing it.
But then they found out my record, and they had to let me go.

You’re scared of heights aren’t you? Is there anything else you’re scared of?
I’m afraid of Beth I think…

Apparently you’re also a terrible driver… or do you just prefer to be driven?
They just say that to tease me. The kids say that but I taught all of them.

How do you relax after a day’s hunting? We reckon you like an action movie or two…
There’s not usually too much time to watch television in the evening. I usually get home, pray with the kids and then I spend a lot of time with my wife. I like to touch her all the time. I’m that kind of guy. I’m not being nasty, it’s just that the older you get the better it gets.
I used to pray to God to actually die while I was having sex. And now I pray for him to keep me alive! To me it feels so good that when I’m done I almost die.

I like to reward myself. I say to myself: Today, Dog, you were and all-round slayer of dragons, and you can now go get your reward. I just like to be with my Bethy.

If you were in Star Wars would you have beaten Boba Fett to find Luke Skywalker?
Sure I would. But I would have wanted to be Han Solo because he got the girl. I might be getting old but I’m still a dreamer...

Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy Is Given: Star of Dog the Bounty Hunter by Duane Chapman is in all decent book shops now.