Are Anti-bark Collars Cruel?

My dog used to keep me up all night. Initially, I had though that it would be a good idea to get a dog which was active enough to make a good watchdog, making sure that any intruders were alerted to the fact that this was not the place that they should be breaking into. But my yippy little beagle, unfortunately, did the job just a little tiny bit too well. He barks not only at mail men, visitors, kids walking by down the street, and cars which drive by, but at squirrels, butterflies, and apparently at the wind going through the grass. Anything that makes the slightest bit of movement at all will attract his attention and cause him to bark and bark. I tried locking him out for the night, but that only made the matter worse. Now he would not only disturb me, but also all of the neighbors as well with his constant and insistent noises.

I had been against anti bark collars for awhile, but eventually I decided that enough was enough. The thing about anti bark collars that bothered me most was that they were so inhumane. If you do not like dog habits, be they panting, drooling, barking, or sniffing at your bottom, I reasoned, you should not get a dog. Getting an anti bark collar which would shock him every single time he barked just seemed like a cruel fix for your own oversight in getting an animal which you were not prepared to adequately take care of in the first place. But still, the temptation of anti bark collars was getting pretty compelling after, one single night, he awoke me no less than six times, and almost got the cops called.