Dog The Bounty Hunter - Legend or Lame?

I love Dog The Bounty Hunter, moreover, I love shouting 'Dog, The Bounty Hunterrrrrr!' when the jingle comes over the television speakers and announces that the time for another episode of Bounty Hunting has begun. Every episode is another exciting hunt for a usually poor and drug addled fugitive who is wandering the streets of Hawaii possibly causing trouble, possibly sleeping on park benches. Dog (aka Duane Chapman) always gets his man, or his woman though, make no mistake on that score. With his trusty cans of mace in his mace holsters, he pulls on his bounty hunting badges and heads out in his big black SUV.

This is the stuff of dreams. However you may have noticed something interesting in the last sentence. Mace, in Mace holsters, how intriguing, surely he should be carrying guns like the rest of those crazy Americans? (No offense intended to Americans, let's face it, we're all crazy now anyway these days.)

Dog's official line is that he doesn't believe in guns, but perhaps the real reason that he's not packing heat is that he is a convicted felon, and convicted felons are not allowed to own or wield firearms. Curiouser and curiouser you might think. What exactly does the Dog's rap sheet look like? Well, there are 18 robbery convictions as well as conspiracy to murder. Heavy stuff.

But Dog makes no attempt to cover up his checkered past. In fact, he celebrates it, using it as an example to try to inspire the fugitives her brings to justice to go straight and make something of their lives. Duane has done the crimes, and he's done the time, so why isn't everybody his greatest fan?

Well, it has something to do with his line of work. You see, a bail bondsman helps people who cannot afford the bail set for them to make bail for a percentage of the total bail cost. For example, if bail is set at $50,000, for a mere $ 5000, you can be on your way back to the beach just as long as you promise to show up for your court date.

The real problem arises when these little scamps don't show up for court. That's when Dog has to put on his vest and go and hunt them down. Many people think that this is more like a 'somebody else catch, then you release and catch again' sort of program, and nothing that should be glamorized, after all, the Dog is making a rod for his own back with these people.

Ah, but there's the rub. He may be making a rod for his own back, but he is also making great tv with some real family Christian values. (You did spot the way that they all pray before going to hunt a fugitive, didn't you?) He also has really big biceps and long hair, as well as a couple more not unattractive side kicks in the form of his brother and son.

He may be doing the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, after all, Hawaii is a really incredibly small place when you get down to it, but as long as there is a metal riff and a sexy silhouette, I think we have to accept the Legend of the Dog is here to stay.