Sweetness of temperament is the hallmark of our breed. Now you can measure it.
Thanks to more than 1,100 Newfoundlands entered by owners, breeders and fanciers, the NCA's breed temperament study with the University of Pennsylvania is complete. The NCA Charitable Trust funded the data collection, and the result is something no other resource offers: a validated, breed-specific temperament baseline for the Newfoundland.
C-BARQ (the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire) was developed and validated at Penn Vet. It scores a dog across a wide range of behavior traits, including trainability, fear, aggression, excitability, separation-related behavior and attachment. Because the Newfoundland reference cohort is now large enough to be meaningful, your dog's results can be compared directly against the breed, not just against dogs in general.
Why breeders should use C-BARQ
Solid and stable sweet temperament is part of the breed standard and part of what families expect when they bring home a Newfoundland. C-BARQ gives you an objective way to look at it.
• Evaluate prospective breeding stock. See where a dog falls compared with more than 1,100 Newfoundlands before you commit to a breeding.
• Spot traits worth watching. Scores outside the breed-typical range can flag areas to consider alongside health testing, structure and your own knowledge of the dog.
• Track your program over time. Enter each dog in your kennel and build a temperament record across generations.
• Encourage your puppy buyers to participate. Every adult dog entered strengthens the breed baseline and gives you feedback on the temperaments you are producing.
C-BARQ is one input, not a pass/fail test. Used with health clearances and thoughtful mentorship, it helps protect the temperament that defines our breed.
More information about the C-BARQ
Dogs must be at least 6 months old. Each dog takes about 10 minutes.
1. Go to the The C-BARQ Website
2. Click the Green “Sign Up Now” button
3. Complete the “Create A Profile” page and click “Create Your Profile”. Your profile lets you return to see the scores for every dog you enter.
4. From your user screen you can click the “Add A Dog” option to add each of the dogs currently living with you. Each dog takes about 10-15 minutes to enter.
5. When asked how you were referred, choose "Dog is a pet and I want to learn more about his/her behavior".
Understanding your results
Your results show where your dog falls on each behavior trait, compared with the Newfoundland reference cohort (1,116 dogs as of 2025) and with all dogs in the C-BARQ database. Scores for your dog are displayed as colored bars, with the breed average indicated with a circle and the ttal population average shown with a diamond.