I have a female dog around 10 years old of the medium-size mutt variety.  If all goes well, I'll be working from home shortly.  The issue is my dog barks even when someone pulls into the driveway 2 doors down.  Nothing has changed in the house so far and I've been taking her outside more often to get rid of energy.  How do I decrease her barking?

I don't/won't.  This past week my dog's barking has increased.

What on earth is a bark collar? I'm assuming its something that perhaps hurt the dog when they bark, if so, what kind of dog owner would voluntarily use such a device?!

There are 3 massive dogs that live in the house next door to me and they bark constantly. They aren't trained one bit and it does my head in. What I find stupid about the whole thing, is that the owner is a dog handler for the Army. You'd think if anyone could get the dogs to behave better it would be someone that is trained to deal with them on a daily basis.

A bark collar is essentially a collar with a small black box on it that is placed around the dogs neck in a way that the black box is sat at the front of their neck. What it does is that each time your dog barks it send a bit of electricity to the dog. Often used as a way to "Train" said dog to not bark. 

It can be used correctly to where it's not AS cruel but it's still an uncomfortable feeling for the dog, so I advise against them. 

Toys are indeed a good way to help entertain a dog, but I know your Pain... my male Shepard does the same thing, mostly becuase he's a guard dog and views the street as his territory. What I do though when my male barks and I'm home is i go to see what he's barking at, divert his attention and tell him good boy... how i see it is that your dog is probably just alerting to you that something is coming within range of your "territory". 

I hear duck tape for 60 seconds works...

On a more serious note I think Crystalize really hit the nail on the head.

haha everyone in the WORLD saw that ehh Dillon.. I hope that bitch fries :( 

http://abc7.com/pets/woman-charged-after-taping-dogs-mouth-posting-on-facebook/1105091/

I have two doggies that we take camping frequently, and because we live in the country, they are not used to seeing other dogs or alot of people and they bark ALOT - I use a sonic egg - it doesn't shock them, it emits a high frequency sound similar to a dog whistle. They usually stop within seconds of me pushing the button. I don't use it all of the time, because I think dogs should be able to "talk" if you will, but, if it's going on all day, and you need some relief, something like this may help. 

Thank you for that Miss_Niki, you just made my day.

Teach them barking is bad with positive reinforcement. 

you'd be finding a lot of videos on youtube.