Entitled Dog the Bounty Hunter, it features Dog and his wife, Beth Smith, as they go after wayward clients of their various bail-bonding agencies. The couple jointly own Da Kine Bail Bonds, and Beth solely owns several other bail companies in Colorado. Together the businesses generate ample demand for the services of a man who calls himself "The World's Greatest Bounty Hunter," as well as plenty of fodder for his TV series. Also appearing in the show are Dog's foot soldiers: his long-time bounty-hunting buddy, Tim Chapman (no relation), 38; his new-to-the-business nephew from Hilo, Justin Bihag, 21; and Leland, 25, one of his 12 children

Dog's relationship with self-help guru Tony Robbins goes back to the early 1980s. He recalls a friend telling him, "'You gotta meet this guy, Dog. He talks just like you, only he uses better words.'" They met, and Robbins was so impressed with the story of bad Dog gone good that he included it in his book, Awaken the Giant Within. He also invited Dog to join the stable of inspirational speakers touring with him.

"It was Norman Schwarzkopf, the Jarvik heart lady, Kathy Buckley, the deaf comedian, and me," Dog said.

When Dog toured Hawai'i with Robbins in 1989, he fell in love with the place. "I heard all these new words for the first time, like mana and 'aina and aloha. My mom was half Native American, and those Hawaiian ideas really meant something to me," he said. He and Beth came to stay in 1991.

A Kona resident named Shanna, who's waiting at the police station to recover stolen property, lets her pet Chihuahua-silky mix out of the bag she carries him in and playfully orders him to attack Dog. Dog drops to the ground and hams it up with the animal. "Dog on dog," he says.

Dog doesn't recognize Shanna, but she knows him. Some 20 years earlier he had bailed her daughter out of jail; more recently Leland had bailed out her son. She had followed Dog's Mexico exploits with keen interest, and she has even pointed him out to her son as a model of what he could do with his life