Liz hit the nail on the head! There are many other ways of teaching a dog not to bark. They should be tried first.
one of our old neighbors asked if there anything we could do about him barking at night, you know 'waking everyone up'...he did only bark when he thought there was a reason...but anyway i read all the books, most of the newer books say to do everything without physically making them do it...well everything MAXIMUS has learned, i showed him physically, eg. push his butt to the floor gently and told him sit...when he started barking for some reason at night, i would hold him at the open door and closed his mouth and told him 'no barking' and he picked it up really fast....during the day he can bark all he wants...he IS a dog