I have strong feelings on this and I am sorry if any one takes offense. First and for most a dog is an animal. No matter how much you baby it, love it, cuddle it, feed it people food, talk to it....what ever. It will always be a DOG....a Canis Familiaris! I agree he (we will call it a he for the sake of not calling it an it!), may be part of the family, he may be your only "child", but he is still a dog. A dog needs to be simply put, a dog. A dog poops, he eats, he sleeps, and he BARKS! Asking a dog to stop barking is like asking you to stop talking. Or writing if you want to go there. You can't stop a dog from barking. You can try, but he will still bark. It's like asking your neighbor not to drive home, open his noisy garage, park his clunker of a car, close the garage door with a bang at 2am-6am in the morning keeping you awake every morning 6 days straight. Would you put a shock/bark collar on him? Would you tell him to get a 9-5 job? He would laugh in your face. So why wouldn't I laugh in the face of some one asking me to stop my dog from doing something that is natural. Now....before you cuss me out!!
My neighbor has said my dog was barking at night. I told him I was sorry that I would try to get her to stop. I locked her in my garage at night. It was so hot in there at night I had to have a fan on. She is not house trained, she is a half grown Great Pyrenees, too big for our house. She is still in the puppy stage so I was scared she would chew everything to pieces. I had to move everything at least 6ft up on the shelves. And she pooped every where. I also priced bark collars...way over what I can afford right now recovering from cancer and having insurance premiums to pay. So I told my neighbor the price of the bark collars if he wanted to get one (he had the problem not me)and he then laughed in my face. Technically my dog is in my yard minding her own business. ON MY PROPERTY. If she wants to bark, let her. If the neighbors have a problem with it (it's only the one) let them figure it out!!