Clang.

Nearby is the Dog's wife, Beth Smith, whose amply endowed, leather-clad image is featured on the official Web site for "Dog the Bounty Hunter." An outspoken, take-no-stuff woman who, with proper motivation, could give fire-breathing lessons to a dragon. That's her, running tiptoe-to-tiptoe with the gaggle of giggling kiddies around the living room.

Clang, clang.

And over there, for good clanging measure, is Tim "No Relation" Chapman, the Dog's longtime associate, exchanging aw-shucks glances with the Dog's son, Leland, a full-time bounty hunter and part-time extreme fighter, as they speak, softly, about the surprise success of their A&E series "Dog the Bounty Hunter."

Not that any of these seeming contradictions in character should be any surprise to fans of the bipolar reality show. The Dog, who once served two years in a Texas penitentiary for being an accessory to murder, is as much about second glances as second chances.

In last year's freshman run, the Dog showed he is as effective a lifestyle counselor as he is a manhunter, a relentless pursuer who, once the capture was made, would rather clean a fugitive's psychological closet than clean his clock.

"Compassion works," Chapman says. "Respect is important. Caring about people is important.

"Half the people we caught in our first season have jobs and are trying to be responsible now," he says. "The other half is doing time. I was there and I think everybody deserves a second chance."

It's that type of sentiment that Smith says endears her husband to the 1.6 million people who tune in every week.

"The novelty is 'Let's watch Dog get the bad guys.' But then you start watching the show and walk away bawling," Smith says. "It's not 'Cops.' "It's 'Touched by a Bounty Hunter.' "

Rough beginnings

'DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER' 6 & 6:30 tonight A&E (check for repeats)

'DOG'-BITES: A BOUNTY HUNTER SOUNDS OFF "Half the people we caught in our first season have jobs and are trying to be responsible now. The other half is doing time. I was there and I think everybody deserves a second chance." "I've seen Hawai'i get worse in the time that we've been here. Somebody has to do something or Hawai'i will turn out like every other state where women can't walk the streets alone and neither can the men. This family will never allow that in Hawai'i." "Fugitives don't have a chance. We're going to relentlessly hunt them down because we're not going to let the cameras catch us being failures. Our title and reputation is on the line."

He got his nickname as a member of the Devil's Disciples motorcycle gang. As a juvenile, he had been arrested numerous times for robbery and other offenses.

The turning point came during his incarceration in Texas, when he decided he had to change the course of his life. Actual direction came soon after his release when, needing money to pay for back child support to his first wife, he took on his first bounty-hunting job for a local judge.

In the more than 25 years since, Chapman has brought in some 6,000 fugitives, using a little muscle, an enormous repertoire of creative tricks, and his own fine-tuned instincts.

Chapman, who has been married four times and has 12 children, knew early on that he wanted his bail bond and bounty hunting business to be a family affair.

Smith, 34, has been a bondsperson since she was 21. Leland watched his father do his thing from the car until he was old enough to help out. This season, another son, Duane Lee II, will also join the fray.

While Chapman and his team have captured a fair share of famous fugitives over the years, it was the well-publicized capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster, an act that got the Dog temporarily detained in Mexico, that helped them land the TV show.

"There have been so many times when we've gone out and arrested somebody and gone through amazing things to do it and afterward thought we should have had a camera to catch it all," says Tim Chapman, who has worked with the Dog for more than two decades. "Then all of a sudden the camera is there and it's great. "

Dog delivers

Chapman may preach second chances, but it was hardly charity that secured his second-season pickup with A&E.

"Dog the Bounty Hunter" attracted up to 3 million viewers per episode last season, making it A&E's most popular primetime show and one of the top draws on cable TV.

The show also highlighted a significant change in direction for A&E, which is putting less emphasis on "arts" and more on "entertainment" in an effort to cultivate a younger demographic of viewers.

Reruns of the first season of "Dog the Bounty Hunter" drew an average of 1.6 million viewers per episode in the coveted 18 to 49 age demographic.

And while the show has endured its share of sniffy reviews from critics turned off by Beth's high heels or Dog's high-minded heart-to-hearts, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" has struck a major chord with viewers willing to suspend their cynicism.

The show is a cultural phenomenon in Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Harper Collins has set an August release date for the book "You Can Run But You Can't Hide," based on Dog's life. The family has also entered into licensing agreements for a cartoon series, a TV movie and — what else? — action figures.

"E-mails come in 2,000 every hour," Smith says. "We had to take the message boards off the site because they kept crashing from the volume."

Each day, three or four tour buses stop by the family's downtown business, Da Kine Bail Bonds, to meet the Dog or, at the very least, snap a photo with the life-sized cutout that adorns the office.

Among the hundreds of requests for autographed photos and posters are those from probation officers around the country.

"I asked one of them what he was going to do with it," Chapman says. "He said, 'I'm going to stick it up on the wall and tell our probationers that if they run, we're sending you after them.' "

The Dog's high profile has also led to some interesting encounters on the Mainland.

"We'll be walking down the street and some fugitive I'm not even looking for will see me and his eyes will bug out," Chapman says, chuckling. "Sometimes they'll get within 20 feet, then break out in a dead sprint."

And then there are the letters from people asking for help — the teenage boy who sleeps with a photo of his parents' killer under his pillow, the girl who watched her sister get raped.

"We have to help," Chapman says. "We might take the show to some towns on the Mainland this season so we can do that. We have to help because I really feel that no one else can."

Tough state

Duane Chapman, center, and his posse — from left, Leland Chapman, Beth Smith and Tim Chapman — watch the premiere of his first show of the second season. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

A promotional ad for the show.

"We've been in states where crime runs rampant," he says. "I've seen Hawai'i get worse in the time that we've been here. Somebody has to do something or Hawai'i will turn out like every other state where women can't walk the streets alone and neither can the men. This family will never allow that in Hawai'i."

Chapman said he has a good relationship with the local police, who he says are more effective than some departments in his native Colorado.

"I happened to be in Columbine when (the school shootings) happened and I saw what they did," Chapman said. "If it had been Hawai'i, there would have been a lot more kids alive.

"I do not like to live where the cops are sissies. That's not what you expect out of a cop; he's got to be the toughest guy on the block and that's how they are here. Once in a while we'll have a problem with them, like any bounty hunter would, but as long as you show them respect and consider them the boss, they'll treat you like one of the family."

Chapman said local fugitives are also tougher than their Mainland counterparts. Already this season, he and his team have gotten into several scrapes.

"Hawai'i guys fight," he says. "You flip the bird off here, you better be ready to rumble. These guys are men. They don't take no bull. You've got to work out, you've got to be at the top of your game, you've got to make friends because this isn't like a lot of states. These are physically tougher guys."

Local beefs

Hawai'i viewers can be pretty tough in their own right.

In the first season alone, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" drew criticism locally for a variety of perceived offenses, from the number of Asian and Polynesian fugitive featured to the show's all-Mainland crew, to Chapman's use of "brah" and his frequent mispronunciations of Hawaiian place names.

Chapman says he understands local sensitivities and tries hard not to step on toes.

"My mother was half Chirakawa (Apache) Indian so I understand the stealing of land," he says. "I had no idea until I came that it was the same kind of syndrome as the American Indian: someone came over here and took the land. And I'm part of that someone and now I'm here."

Chapman, who buried his mother in Kona in 1995, says Hawai'i is home to him now, but he knows where the dividing lines are.

"We're not trying to represent like we're Hawaiians," he says. "We're from Hawai'i, but we're not of Hawaiian blood. Even though we may want to be, we are not."

Director and cameraman Andrew Dunn said he tries to avoid visual stereotypes of Hawai'i. What appears on the show, he says, is dictated by Duane's real-life activities.

"A lot of people on the Mainland don't realize what a unique place this is," Dunn said. "We try to capture the spirit of where we go, but we're restricted by what Duane and the team do.

"I think it's possible to be too white as a filmmaker in Hawai'i," he says. "I couldn't make a film like Edgy Lee can make. I just try to interpret (the family's) life and make it understandable to people everywhere."

Show has evolved

Season No. 1 was a learning experience for Chapman and his team. And while being in front of a camera didn't necessarily inhibit him, watching the finished product was occasionally painful.

"I'd see myself on the show and think, 'How could I have said Kakawako instead of Kaka'ako?' " he said. "I know better than that. It was hard to watch."

Chapman said the camera, and the knowledge that Dunn the good documentarian isn't going to do anything special to make him look better, puts positive pressure on him to deliver on his job.

"If we don't catch someone, Andrew's going to show that," he says. "So fugitives don't have a chance. We're going to relentlessly hunt them down because we're not going to let the cameras catch us being failures. Our title and reputation is on the line."

So far, the series has proceeded like business as usual.

"We've gotten into a couple of fights already," says Leland. "Been maced a few times. Tim got a black eye. Fortunately none of us have had any injuries."

Dunn said the show has evolved from his initial expectation of an action-oriented show to one that also delves into moral issues and family dynamics.

"I feel I have a good understanding of how Duane works, but now I'm getting a better understanding of how the people they bond work," he says. "That's becoming more and more important in the show.

"In (tonight's episode) 'The War on Ice,' Duane was very depressed. When you arrest a drug dealer with lots of drugs on him, can you really help that person? There's definitely a dark side. You don't always win, even when you win. I think that's what we're all learning."