Say your dog is making excessive noise, and all your attempts to stop it from doing so have met with failure.
Say, in addition, the dog's barking is not intended to communicate anything but, in all probability, is just noise.
As a good, humane pet-owner, you are probably well-informed as to the causes of canine behaviour, and as to why they whine, howl, and bark.
You know, in addition, that canine vocalization is not that different in intent from human vocalization - in other words, that dogs bark to express the same emotions as human beings do - joy, sadness, anger, pain.
You may also know that dogs laugh, just as you and I do.
So, if your dog is barking excessively, and you are at the end of your rope, would you take harmful and excessive measures to stop it doing so, or would you investigate a simpler alternative? These are anti-bark spray collars - and the science shows they work.
Say you do have a dog that makes this much noise, and that you are at your wits' end, you could take some simple steps to stop it doing so.
You could engage in behavioral therapy, by encouraging it to bark only once in order to attract attention and then stop, or by distracting its attention by a clap or whistle when it enters its barking moods.
You could try to find out if the dog barks at a specific stimulus, or if its expectations are being thwarted in any way - perhaps it is merely lonely for company.
Do not be afraid to try to understand your dog - it is not beneath you to consider its feelings.
Being an intelligent species, dogs have emotions, rudimentary language, and behavior that humans can empathise with and understand.
So if you now know that all these strategies are available, and you are still unsure as to how to stop the barking that keeps you awake, what could you do? Some quite invasive methods are: using a shock collar, which delivers a short, but powerful jolt whenever you press a button, linked via radio to a device on the dog's collar.
This has the advantage of taking out your stress on your dog - but nothing else.
Remember: as for humans, so for dogs.
Shocking a human being does nothing but jolt them into temporary silence, without addressing the causes of their distress.
Now apply this to dogs.
The lesson: avoid shock collars.
Another popular, though drastic, measure, is to remove certain cords in the larynx of the dog.
Again, this invasive, and superficial, treatment does nothing to persuade the dog to stop barking.
So in conjunction with behavior therapy, try anti-bark spray collars, which spray a whiff of unpleasant aroma (unpleasant to the dog, not you), thereby gently mending the behavior of the dog towards avoiding its barking habits.
When in doubt, therefore, use gentler methods such as the anti-bark spray collars mentioned, along with training your dog, and understanding its moods.