Meet Tyce and Rachel

We’re Tyce and Rachel Erickson, and FBGR grew out of the life we were already living—raising five kids on our little farm in West Mountain, hunting through the fall and winter, and spending nearly every day surrounded by working dogs. Our Goldens come along for the real stuff: training days, hunts, hikes, farm chores, family life, and everything in between. Over the years, that has given us a very clear picture of the kind of dog we want beside us.

Tyce brings the professional trainer’s eye to our breeding program. Through Utah Bird Dog Training, he has spent nearly two decades professionally training gun dogs and obedience dogs, working with thousands of dogs from many different breeds, pedigrees, and backgrounds. He notices the things that are easy to miss—the way a dog handles pressure, how quickly it learns, whether its drive comes with a clear head, and whether it truly wants to work with its handler. His standards are high, and being talented, beautiful, or deeply loved by us is not enough on its own to earn a place in the breeding program. UTBDT’s work also gives us the unusual opportunity to train and evaluate dogs produced by our own litters as they grow.

Rachel is the keeper of both the big picture and all the little details. She manages much of the breeding calendar, pedigree research, health-testing records, puppy applications, and waitlist communication. She is also constantly thinking about how these dogs function in real homes—not just how impressive they look on paper or perform in the field. Our children help care for and socialize the puppies, giving us another valuable look at how each one responds to people, activity, and everyday family life.

We make our breeding decisions together, combining Tyce’s experience evaluating and training working dogs with Rachel’s attention to pedigrees, health, puppy development, and family fit. We aren’t trying to produce the darkest dog, the busiest dog, or simply the dog with the most titles. We want healthy, athletic, intelligent Goldens with genuine natural ability, a willingness to work with their people, and the temperament to be just as enjoyable at home as they are exciting in the field.

That balance is what we keep working toward with every generation—and it is why we remain incredibly selective about the dogs and pairings that carry the FBGR name.