How do you feel about dogs and barking? Is it ever allowed? When is too much? And how do you control it?

I don't have to look past Monday night to illustrate the benefits of barking. Just as we were drifting off to sleep, quite late, Jillie leaped from the bed, ran to the front room and barked up a storm. Her commotion got Lucy barking, too.

I was understandably perturbed, and shouted out a few "NO BARK"s at the entire household. Not long after, it stopped and I drifted back to sleep.

But come Tuesday morning, we discovered the barking may have done some good. Kelly had forgotten to lock her car door, and someone had gotten in and filtered through her glove box. They stole a camera and left stuff scattered around. But it appeared to be a rush job. They didn't appear to investigate anything in the back seat, and they left the door partially open.

If I had investigated the barking, I might have foiled the crime. Well, or gotten shot :O

But it's another in a long line of examples I have for acceptable barking -- I want my dogs to alert me to intruders. I want my dogs to alert me when they see a moose that I don't see when we're walking on the trails.

That said, there comes a point when enough is enough. Dogs barking at each other is terribly annoying to neighbors. As I write that, a neighbor dog is illustrating my point by barking incessantly at another neighbor's dog two houses away.

Do you have a barking problem? How do you address it?

Bonus points for anyone with experience with citronella no bark collars. I'm thinking of recommending one of those to my neighbor. If they're not home to supervise and barking is an issue, it might be best to try to curb it altogether.