Its not a stupid question at all Catja. she is a dark golden which is the 'standard' golden colour now for showing. A golden that is pure, without any other colours is a much more orange colour without such heavy ticking of the fur. My Vala is a pure golden. So although they are genetically only golden with nothing else (and so logic would say they would be nearest to the standard for showing goldens) in actual fact to show well, goldens do better carrying a recessive gene that darkens the colour and adds to the ticking, such as black or dark grey.
So Topaz carries black and this shows in the dark eye rings, and black ticking over the coat. Dark grey does a similar thing.
An umbrous golden carries the U gene, which is sometimes referred to as the 'sooty' gene. it tends to darken and dull any colour (and of course produces the sable when mixed with cream). An umbrous golden wouldnt be good for showing as umbrous tends to affect the whole coat and actually makes all the colours less noticeable as they all appear sooty. So umbrous golden is a non-standard colour. That said I personally like the look of umbrous golden. It is a dusky golden colour that sort of washes out the normal colours!
Hope that makes sense - but ask me to clarify if not!
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