He was raised in Denver, Colorado, by his father, a Navy welder, who, by Chapman's account, was verbally and physically abusive, and his mother, a missionary and minister for the Assemblies of God. Chapman subsequently joined a motorcycle gang, the Devil's Disciples, that reportedly had a distaste for blacks, although Chapman himself claims not to be a racist and has recently appeared on the Montel Williams Show. According to Chapman, another gang member, Donny Kirkandall, murdered pimp and drug dealer Jerry Lee Oliver, a crime for which Chapman was found in complicity by a Texas judge. Chapman has reportedly been arrested at least 18 times.

In 1977, Chapman was sentenced to five years of hard labor and served two of those years before being paroled in 1979. Before his sentencing, Chapman had married, sired at least one child, and divorced a woman named LaFonda. Because of this fact, Chapman owed money for child support. The judge in charge of handling the child support case asked Chapman to catch a fugitive for $200, thus launching his bounty-hunting career.

On June 18, 2003, Duane Dog Chapman made news with his hunt and capture of cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who had been convicted in absentia of poisoning and rape after fleeing to Mexico. However, the situation quickly became very complicated. Mexican authorities demanded that the Luster "hunt team" of Duane, Tim Chapman (Dog's brother), and Duane's son transfer Luster over to the Mexican police. When the hunt team refused, they were charged by Mexican authorities for breaking extradition laws. On July 3, 2003, they were officially declared "fugitives" by a spokesman for the Mexican Government, after they left Mexico without obtaining permission from the presiding judge to leave the country. However, the charges were eventually dropped. The producers of the movie "A Date with Darkness, The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster", did a spoof of Dog and his boys catching Luster

He has said that, if given permission from the United States government, he would attempt to collect a bounty on terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

Chapman stars in Dog The Bounty Hunter, weekly reality television program broadcast Tuesdays on A&E Network, featuring a theme song by Ozzy Osbourne.

Chapman's public relation skills have proven adept at changing what historically was an unpopular career into celebrity. Even so, some of his colleagues do not approve of his style or methods. Penny Harding, who is the executive director of the California Bail Agents Association said, "He represents all of the things that bail agents are trying to get away from - the cowboy image, the renegade, bring 'em home dead or alive."  Others in the industry criticized his crossing the border into Mexico to kidnap Luster - saying that crossing into foreign countries is not something they condone. One bail agent said that he would not hire someone like Chapman because of concerns over civil liability.