Hometown Heroes | May 2025
Behind the Badge and the Baking Table: Kimbre Collier of Law Dawg Treats
Most people in Caddo Mills know Kimbre Collier one of two ways: as the police chief who has steadily kept this growing town together for nearly two decades, or as the woman behind the baking table with a glass case full of gourmet dog treats and a waiting list of four-legged regulars who know her by name. A few people are lucky enough to know her as both, and those are the people who will tell you the two sides of her story belong together.
This month, The Local Letter is celebrating Hometown Heroes, and our focus is on first responders who have also planted something of their own in this community, a business built from passion, showing up in a different kind of uniform on their days off. Kimbre is the first of that group. She is the founder of Law Dawg Treats LLC, a small batch natural dog treat business she started because she loves her dogs, and because once she sets her mind to figuring something out, she figures it out.
It Started in the Kitchen
A few years ago, Kimbre started reading the ingredient labels on the store-bought treats she was giving her dogs, and what she found there did not sit well with her. So she did what any determined person does when they want something done right: she started researching. She spent about a year learning what dogs can and cannot eat, collecting recipes from Pinterest and Facebook and filling out her own recipe book at home, testing batches on two very willing taste-testers.
What came out of that kitchen is Law Dawg Treats, a line of natural, handcrafted dog treats made with ingredients that are gentle on stomachs and easy on teeth. The menu has grown well beyond that first batch. Bacon cheddar biscuits, sweet potato and apple bites, peanut butter pumpkin balls, seasonal cookies stamped for Halloween and Valentine’s Day, donuts, and birthday cakes that she makes one at a time and never exactly the same twice. She sources her eggs from Butcherman’s when she can get them, and she will tell you there is a difference in the way the treats turn out when she does.
The name came from a friend. Larry Houser, a fellow Caddo Mills Volunteer Fire Department member, was sitting with her one day when they were trying to figure out what to call it, and he said: Law Dawg Treats. She knew immediately that was it.
I will admit I have a personal stake in this story. My dog Minion is one of Kimbre’s regulars, and she has made her loyalties very clear. Every morning starts with a bacon cheddar biscuit, the peanut butter cookies rotate in as an afternoon treat, and the words “Law Dawg” and “Muttfin” are two of the most reliable phrases in our house. Minion knows exactly what they mean and makes absolutely no effort to pretend otherwise.
Where You Can Find Her
Law Dawg Treats has a permanent home inside The Water Table, an alkaline water shop on State Highway 66 in Caddo Mills that has grown into a little neighborhood hub, sharing space with Caddo Cakery & Confections and Sno Daze Shaved Ice. Kimbre keeps her glass-front display case stocked with fresh treats, the prices are marked on small chalkboard signs, and payment is as easy as scanning the QR code and sending it via Venmo. No booth to staff, no transaction to manage, just a running supply of handmade treats and a community that she trusts to handle the rest.
Beyond The Water Table, she sells at local markets throughout Hunt County, and this past weekend she wrapped up Fox Fest, where Law Dawg Treats raised $100 for Feed Jake, a local resource that helps Hunt County families struggling to cover food and veterinary costs for their dogs. The generosity is not an afterthought. It is woven into the way she runs the business.
She has regulars she knows well, dogs whose names and preferences she keeps track of, owners who message her when supplies run low. “I love it,” she said. “I know they need treats, so I need to make something.” That kind of relationship is exactly what she was after when she started.
The Other Hat
Kimbre has been part of the Caddo Mills Police Department since 2007, when she came on as a reserve officer after years of working in the Rockwall County Jail and dispatching for Rockwall PD. She earned her peace officer license while working deep nights as a single mother, attending the academy part-time before her shifts, taking a full year to finish because that was the pace that her life allowed. She came to Caddo Mills on a reserve basis, moved into a full-time role in 2011, served as the department’s first school resource officer starting in 2012, and eventually became chief.
Running a small-town department is a different job than most people picture when they think of a police chief. There are no layers of staff to absorb the administrative load. Kimbre manages the budget, schedules the officers, writes the grants, orders the supplies, and still works cases when the team needs her. “Your bigger departments, the chief gets to delegate,” she said. “I don’t have enough people to delegate my duties.”
She is currently working on a grant for the department’s Flock camera system, a license plate recognition tool that flags stolen vehicles, active protective orders, and registered sex offenders passing through the city. She is matter-of-fact about what the cameras do and what they do not do. “It doesn’t violate privacy like people think,” she said. “It just notifies us: ‘Hey, this is in your city.’ It’s great to have.”
The part of the work that she says people rarely see is the investigation side, the prep, the coordination with DPS and the Texas Rangers, the patience that serious cases require. “People say, ‘Oh, the police aren’t doing anything.’ That’s not true. It just takes time.”
Her deepest focus within the work has always been child crimes. She traces that back to her years in the schools, when she first understood the full weight of what resources like the Child Advocacy Center and CASA make possible for children who need them. The Child Advocacy Center sponsored her to attend the Crimes Against Children conference in Dallas, and her detective will go again this August. “That was when I actually felt the full weight,” she said. “I’m still very passionate about child crimes.”
Two Versions of the Same Person
At the market, a lot of people do not recognize Kimbre out of uniform, and she finds something good in that. “It’s nice to just be Kimbre,” she said. But she is quick to add that the community has always treated her as a person first, not just a title. The kids she worked with in the schools called her Kimbre, and their parents followed. She has never needed the formality.
When she talks about what the treats give her, the answer comes straight from the heart. “It helps me relax and get my mind off the stress of the job,” she said. “It’s more of a relaxation for me, a hobby. And I love doing it. I love animals.” At home, she has a 12-year-old boxer who conserves his energy for mealtimes and a younger rescue from the Greenville Shelter who is still working on her manners around other dogs but is, Kimbre says, really sweet. Both of them position themselves directly underfoot whenever she is in the kitchen.
When asked what the words Hometown Hero mean to her, she did not reach for anything complicated. “Someone who puts their community first,” she said. “Someone who loves their community and wants to help and be a resource for anyone who needs it.”
And when asked what she hopes people remember about her time here, both behind the badge and behind the baking table, she kept it just as simple. “I just want them to remember that I cared. That I actually did care for my town and the people who work under me. And the animals.”
In Caddo Mills, that part is not in question. Her number is in a lot of phones, and people find her when they need her, whether that is at the police department, at the market on a Saturday, or at The Water Table on State Highway 66 where the peanut butter cookies are always waiting.
About the Business
Law Dawg Treats is a Hunt County small business specializing in natural, handcrafted dog treats and cakes made with dog-safe ingredients. Founded by Caddo Mills Police Chief Kimbre Collier, Law Dawg Treats offers seasonal and specialty items, including bacon cheddar biscuits, peanut butter pumpkin balls, sweet potato and apple bites, donuts, and custom birthday cakes. Law Dawg Treats is available year-round inside The Water Table at 2411 State Highway 66 in Caddo Mills and at local Hunt County markets throughout the year.
Follow Kimbre and Law Dawg Treats on Facebook for market dates and restocking updates.
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