<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having recently read <\/span>You Can Run But You Can\u2019t Hide <\/span><\/i>(by Duane \u201cDog\u201d Chapman with Laura Morton – 2007 Hyperion), I couldn\u2019t help but notice the things that Dog Chapman and I have in common.\u00a0 We are both male and were born in 1953. That is it. When his <\/span>Dog the Bounty Hunter<\/span><\/i> show was in its first run on the A&E channel (2004 to 2012), it was the one reality TV show on at the time that sucked me in, yet I knew little about Duane \u201cDog\u201d Chapman.\u00a0 I had seen him once on a late night talk show with either David Letterman or Jay Leno (perhaps both) and my impression of him then was, \u201che must radiate an \u2018I am a tough guy\u2019 aura.\u201d\u00a0 The interviewer was clearly intimidated by him. After being asked a question, Dog would simply look at the host (okay, a look from Dog does resemble a \u2018glare\u2019) which would illicite nervous laughter from both the host and the audience, but Dog never gave any hint that he was amused.\u00a0 If \u2018tough guy looks\u2019 could be bottled, \u201cDog\u201d Chapman would make the perfect source material to make that magic elixir.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After <\/span>Dog the Bounty Hunter<\/span><\/i> ran its course, Dog and his wife Beth jumped to CMT for a short run of <\/span>Dog and Beth:\u00a0 On the Hunt <\/span><\/i>(2012 to 2013).\u00a0 They returned to A&E for a special in 2017 that followed Beth Chapman\u2019s battle with throat cancer (<\/span>Dog and Beth:\u00a0 The Fight of Their Lives).<\/span><\/i> Since then, they have been conspicuously absent from just about all media outlets.\u00a0 The <\/span>You Can Run<\/span><\/i> book ends during the third season of <\/span>Dog the Bounty Hunter<\/span><\/i>, so it took some doing to find out what is new with the Chapman clan.\u00a0 The history Dog supplies about his life up to his first experiences with reality TV could be printed into a self help manual called <\/span>\u2018Don\u2019t Try This At Home\u2019.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Duane Lee Chapman was born in Denver, Colorado on February 3, 1953.\u00a0 The oldest of four children (he has two sisters and a brother), Chapman speaks frankly in his book about his father\u2019s \u2018tough love\u2019 way of disciplining him.\u00a0 His mother was deeply involved in the Assembly of God church and he remembers the importance religion played in his early years, especially helping her each summer at Sister Jensen\u2019s Mission in New Mexico .\u00a0 Small in stature, he was bullied in school for being part Native American (his great-grandmother\u2019s name was Cochise and hailed from the Chiricahua-Apache tribe). His Bible toting ways made him a minority but being half Native American got him beat up.\u00a0 He collected his fair share of bumps and bruises from being backhanded by his dad (Wesley by name, nicknamed \u2018Flash\u2019 for his fast hands when he boxed) and from fighting at school. His dad did teach him how to box, fish and hunt, but Duane soon grew tired of school, dropping out after seventh grade.\u00a0 As he tells it, \u201cListening to those kids [call me derogatory names] made my skin crawl. A mighty rush of blood consumed every inch of my body each time those kids taunted or teased me. Sometimes I felt angry, other times ashamed. I knew I didn\u2019t have anything to feel bad about, but it wasn\u2019t easy to take.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without school to fill up his time, he set out to become a street punk and one of the first like-minded kids he met on the street introduced him to huffing glue.\u00a0 As the young Duane dabbled in more and more addictive behaviors, his religious upbringing fell to the wayside. He learned what he recalls as, \u201ca thousand ways to break the law,\u201d and supported himself and his habits by stealing anything that wasn\u2019t nailed down.\u00a0 He lied about being underage to become a \u2018Prospect\u2019 of the Devil\u2019s Disciples motorcycle gang and continued his rough and tumble ways. Never one to keep his mouth shut when he probably should have, Chapman was bounced out of the Disciples and then allowed to return, but only if he started the grueling ninety day \u2018Prospect\u2019 period again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He made a name for himself while he was a Disciple:\u00a0 being young and small, Chapman made sure he partied, fought, and lived a life of crime harder than any other biker in the gang.\u00a0 They paid for their lavish bikes and hard partying ways by rolling hippies for their drugs and cash, at least until they tried to rip off a radicalized group who were armed to the teeth.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be the last time that Dog Chapman literally dodged a bullet. It was also during this phase that Dog met his first wife, LaFonda.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He eventually left the Disciples but it wasn\u2019t a pleasant parting.\u00a0 Dog escaped with his life only because he was forced to play the \u2018Hey, I am underage\u2019 card, something he previously tried to cover up by being the wildest, craziest biker in the gang. \u00a0 Chapman never returned to the gang lifestyle, but he continued to associate with bikers and identify with the biker lifestyle making his attempts to live a more \u2018normal\u2019 life extremely difficult.\u00a0 He married LaFonda but continued robbing and stealing to support them. Chapman\u2019s lengthy rap sheet got him classified 1-F for the Vietnam era military draft. Determined to get a fresh start, the newly weds moved to Plainview, Illinois where Duane tried his hand at running a backhoe, making a living by digging septic fields and graves.\u00a0 Chasing women was always one of Dog\u2019s weaknesses (remember, I said LaFonda was his first wife) and he foolishly continued his wild ways even after they were married. LaFonda left him and returned to her home town of Pampa, Texas. Duane soon followed her to Texas and were he would find his life making another radical change. Chapman tried (and failed) at other honest jobs:\u00a0 he couldn\u2019t hack killing cattle at a slaughterhouse and his fear of heights washed him out of the tree trimming business. Desperate to find a job he could stick with, he followed up on a want ad his wife found in the paper: Dog Chapman would become a Bison Vacuum Cleaner salesman. It turned out that Duane \u201cDog\u201d Chapman was a born salesman and made a decent living selling door to door.\u00a0 The only problem was he had a wife and two children at home to support with his door to door selling job, but he continued living the biker\u2019s life on the side. He had made a promise to God that he wouldn\u2019t join a gang again (and he kept his word by staying away from his previous life of crime), but apparently he hadn\u2019t included the biker lifestyle in his prayer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the vacuum job bottomed out, he worked for a time driving truck. On the night of September 16, 1976, he ignored his wife\u2019s plea to not go out on the town with the boys.\u00a0 One thing lead to another and Dog ended up being charged with murder one without ever firing a weapon. Chapman happened to be with four of his drinking buddies when one of them shot and killed an old friend of Dog\u2019s during a botched drug buy.\u00a0 In Texas, being with someone who commits a crime means one will be charged just as if they had committed the crime. Dog Chapman was sentenced to five years of hard time. Imagine the scenes from the most brutal prison movie you have ever watched and it will pale by comparison to Chapman\u2019s story of being in the Texas penitentiary system.\u00a0 He learned how to survive but along the way, LaFonda divorced Dog and ran away with his best friend. By the time he was released (he served 18 months), he was confused, angry, and ready to hunt down his former wife and best friend (and not to wish them a long and happy life).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Chapman\u2019s mother and father took him in.\u00a0 Sensing his anger toward his ex, his mother reminded him that, \u201cGod has given you everything; His house, His Son, His Heaven, every blessing and angels, but he won\u2019t give you His Vengeance.\u201d\u00a0 To help her son get his balance, she introduced him to a local Kirby Vacuum Cleaner salesman. Once he got back into the saddle, Dog Chapman was again the supersalesman. He was named \u2018salesman of the year\u2019, only to find that the company had been sold.\u00a0 The new CEO had a son, and the son was a good friend of one Jim Darnell – the man Dog\u2019s first wife divorced him for. Boom – no salesman of the year award and no job with Kirby after the new CEO \u2018somehow\u2019 found out about Chapman\u2019s prison record. Dog\u2019s life resembled a dance we used to call \u2018The Politician\u2019 (one step forward, two steps back, one to the side) and every time hit bottom, he would (eventually) turn to prayer,\u00a0 asking God to show him the path to follow. Like many people of faith, Dog would wander from his path of righteousness, only to be reminded again and again that \u201cGod had a plan for me\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The seed that turned Dog into a bounty hunter was planted back at the Huntsville prison.\u00a0 Dog tackled a distraught prisoner who made a break for it after being told that his mother had died.\u00a0 One of the guards praised the effort with, \u201cGood job, bounty hunter.\u201d The fast talking \u2018salesman Dog\u2019 had to explain to the rest of the inmates that the guards would have shot the runner had he not taken him down.\u00a0 Rather than getting a beat down for \u2018helping\u2019 the guards, Dog found his stature raised with the other prisoners dropping tokens of esteem (like extra smokes) outside his cell. He actually got his first bounty hunting experience on the outside when an understanding judge made an unusual arrangement for Dog to cover his back child care payments.\u00a0 The judge held up a picture of a wanted bail jumper and told Dog, \u201cIf you bring him in, I will apply the bond to your payments and you won\u2019t go to jail for refusing to pay.\u201d Dog played off his street smarts, nabbed the runner and discovered that not only was it a monetarily beneficial arrangement, he also enjoyed the chase.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were ups and downs in his personal life (wives two, three, and four plus adding more children to his growing brood), more business troubles, and more wavering faith episodes than seems normal for one lifetime.\u00a0 When he finally went into the bail bondsman \/ bounty hunter business with his latest girlfriend (and future wife #5), the more familiar \u2018Dog the Bounty Hunter\u2019 Chapman image began to emerge. Before he became a reality show fixture, Duane had one more pit to fall into.\u00a0 His fourth wife introduced him to crack and had future wife Beth not intervened, Dog would not have survived long enough to become the more familiar \u2018Dog\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After being pulled back from the brink by Beth, Dog Chapman found himself starting over for the umpteenth time in his life.\u00a0 Life\u2019s road to that point had taken Duane Lee Chapman over more hills and dips than a rollercoaster. He had been a street rat, Devil\u2019s Disciple, vacuum salesman, manual laborer, convict, an ex-con,\u00a0 vacuum salesman (part two), a successful business owner (bail bondsman and bounty hunter), a motivational speaker (working with Tony Robbins), and the owner of a failing business. He was circling the drain faster and faster as a crack addict and it was only a matter of time unless someone tossed him a lifeline.\u00a0 In Dog\u2019s mind, God did him one better and sent him an angel named Beth.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 2 of <\/span>Dog the Bounty Hunter<\/span><\/i>, we will examine how chasing fame turned into a double edged sword for Duane Lee \u201cDog\u201d Chapman.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The Clash with their take on the classic Bobby Fuller Four track,\u00a0I Fought the Law<\/em>