[1] Born in Houston, Texas, Dobbs attended Sam Houston State Teachers College, where he majored in journalism and minored in English and theater, while shooting college promotional films and also creating his own independent Western short films.

After graduating in 1961, he collaborated with Ray Miller on The Eyes of Texas, a TV magazine series for Houston's KPRC, and he soon headed for Hollywood, entering the film industry by scripting two episodes of Gunsmoke in 1965-66.

In 2003, he directed Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern in the TV movie Hard Ground, a period Western about a Yuma prison escapee who plans to control the Mexican border by assembling an army of desperadoes.

He was the executive producer of the Disney Channel documentary The Legend of Billy the Kid (1994), which won an Emmy.

He was a technical consultant on Amargosa (2000), Todd Robinson's documentary about Death Valley Junction dancer-painter Marta Becket, which won a 2003 Emmy Award for cinematographer Curt Apduhan, in addition to numerous festival awards and nominations.