Duane "Dog" Chapman and his buxom bombshell wife, Beth, are looking for new ways to outsmart the bad guys.

"We're Sherlock Holmesing 'em this time around," said Dog, sitting in a leather chair in his Da Kine Bail Bonds office downtown.

Their tricks for tracking fugitives have been on "Dog the Bounty Hunter" for three seasons now, and they want to keep up their track record.

"It's getting more technical because the fugitives, of course, are watching us and what we drive, what we're doing," Dog said, at work looking much as he does in the A&E series, wearing pressed dark black jeans and a black dress shirt unbuttoned nearly down to his navel.

"We're the predator's predator," he said. "They're watching us, because they know we're coming."

His bleached-blonde wife, sitting nearby in a black peasant top encrusted with sparkly jewels, nodded in agreement as Dog said the art of surprise has been removed from his work with the constant presence of cameras.

But the bounty hunter has developed some different techniques. "You can teach an old dog new tricks," he said.

"Each (criminal) has their own weakness — a different mother, a different girlfriend, a different enemy."

Dog, a soft-spoken man who might even be a bit shy — he only once removed his black Oakley sunglasses during the interview — is facing more than one kind of challenge in his life and career. The fourth season of his reality show began about three weeks ago with a continued cliffhanger, involving criminal charges against the bounty hunter himself.

'IN AN ANXIETY STAGE'

Last September Chapman, son Leland, and colleague Tim Chapman were arrested by U.S. marshals in Honolulu and jailed on an extradition warrant requested by Mexico. Prosecutors in that country want to bring Dog and his crew to trial because the U.S. citizens allegedly broke Mexican law by taking now-convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster into custody inside Mexico in 2003.

Dog and Beth Chapman say the possibility of extradition to Mexico looms over their lives, and Season 4, like a dark cloud.

Most of this season is an inside look at how the family deals with their legal problems, Dog said.

"We both sort of live in an anxiety stage where I literally wake up short of breath. You just never know when the other shoe is going to fall," said Beth, who becomes visibly agitated when talking about the topic.

Regardless, the couple, with their larger-than-life personalties and wardrobe to match, say it's their duty to continue to clean up the streets.

"We're a family of crime fighters," Beth interrupted, as her husband was asked if the Luster incident ever caused him to consider giving up bounty hunting.

"When I first got out of jail, when I was arrested by my friends, I thought about it for about five minutes," Dog said. "And then a U.S marshal came up to me and said, 'Who would be our Dog?' "

Beth Chapman, who's known for her ready-to-rumble attitude as much as for her extreme loyalty to Dog, said she wants to see "a Dog statue the size of Duke's" erected in her husband's name.

"You know what, brother, that is an amazing feat for a U.S. citizen. There is no other plainclothed citizen who has caught an FBI Most Wanted," she said, referring to the capture of Luster, who is now serving a 124-year prison term in California.

And Beth Chapman isn't the only one who feels that way. Since the capture of Luster, the 53-year-old bounty hunter has become a cult hero. His show is A&E's top-rated series, and busloads of tourists stop by Da Kine Bail Bonds daily to catch a glimpse of the crime fighter.

On the day of the interview, four large buses and a trolley stopped in front of the Queen Emma Street office. The Chapmans have even created a gift shop a couple doors away from the office to serve the hundreds of people who stop by daily.

TURNING LIVES AROUND

Dog's back story is also now well-known to television viewers. While in his 20s and living in Texas, he was convicted as an accessory to murder after a drug dealer was killed by a fellow member of his gang. He served time in prison; later, he told Larry King he wasn't "just sitting in the cell. ... Hard work while I was being punished, worked."

Now Dog says his success has created more opportunities to help others turn their lives around, just as he did.

On his show, Chapman frequently shows compassion for the criminals he apprehends, often lending them his cell phone, giving them a cigarette and providing his signature "life coaching."

"No matter what happened in your past, as long as you stick by the golden rule, you will have a future. That's the message," he said. "That doesn't mean it'll happen overnight. In my case it took 30 years. With younger kids, it could take a week. So that is the message — how to come back and clean up your life."

Success has also meant trips to New York, a constant barrage of fans seeking autographs, and media tours all over the country.

"On the Mainland ... if we lived over there we would probably get a big head," Dog said. "When we're at home we're still Dog and Beth. We still go to Wal-Mart, Kmart. ... "

"No we don't! Wal-Mart is out," Beth Chapman interrupted.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.