I rarely watch television, but when I do its usually either college football or some learning channel like Discovery, History Channel, TLC, or A&E. “Dog the Bounty Hunter” is a reality TV program about Duane Chapman and his bounty hunting team tracking and capturing fugitives, mostly on the Hawaiian Islands (but they have started branching out). Call me crazy, but I find the show absolutely engaging simply for the fact that I believe Dog has probably the very best people skills I have ever witnessed, and the way he does it is so subtle its very hard to see. Nearly all of his work revolves around dealing with people and communication skills.
There have been countless episodes where he tracks down a fugitive and during the apprehension he is yelling, cussing, wrestling with, talking down to, and by the time they drop the guy off at the jail house they are hugging and crying together like they have been best friends since birth. He is able to convince close friends and even family members who are initially helping their friends hide, to turn them in. Its a trip to watch.
I haven’t picked up all of his strategies, but I know this is something he is consciously doing, because we see it over and over. From the way they dress (to “appear” as police officers, which they aren’t), to the “attitude” of the take down, to calling his enemies “my brudda”, to why Beth talks to some informants and not to others, to offering them to use their cell phones before the drop them off, to offering them a smoke, to praying with them, etc. I do believe what he is doing is sincere, extremely effective, and also very planned and intentional. You can never underestimate good people skills and if you want to see someone who is extremely good at it, this is your man.
This is one of those shows I watch on occasion when I’m just vegging out (not often) and just last week, my son who is taking sociology and I were sitting there trying to figure out how this guy pulls off his awesome people skills. We did not figure out his methods but were making the exact same observations. He is extremely effective at what he does. I was amazed at how he could get a mom to turn in her son … One of the latest ones I saw He and his team were called in by another bailbonds man that they had a long history of not liking each other but his team stepped up and helped this guy out because it was the RIGHT thing to do.
love that guy. thanks for the thoughts, he really is great.
I love that guy and his family, they are so fun and entertaining! They also do a great work and well paid but very dangerous too.
great observation, that is so totally true :)! never thought of it that way. i went to school with one of his daughters in alaska!
Couldn’t agree more, whilst I initially watched just for the ”Macabre’ entertainment value, 1, I was amazed at how clever he was in dominating to take down, apprehension of suspects as it is a very dangerous thing to do, 2, My take is that he also knows that some of these guys are genuinely dangerous, so their last thoughts of him are fun, positive emotional, he doesn’t want thse people carrying a grudge, very very clever.
Not to continue this discussion much longer but I completely lost respect for this man yesterday. He was interviewed on a local morning talk radio show here. What a PIG! He basically stated that he has cheated on his wife, she has forgave him for the ones she ‘knows’ about, but there have been a few recent ‘encounters’ that she doesn’t know about and wouldn’t because she is NOT listening to the radio show. It’s up to the woman to stay by her man because if she’s away too long or they are apart for too long then obviously he will have to give into temptation so it’s up to the woman to keep her man from cheating. REALLY? It’s either he’s a complete pig or the two of them have one great marketing strategy which makes me wonder how much of that show is REAL and unscripted. Maybe they just have really good writers and ‘scenes’ that make him look good. Complete loss of respect for him.
I watch them every week, they show up, that you never must play with the Dog. In what kind of sercumstances you are don’t touch the Dog. You will be sorry if you want to play or hunt for the Dog