Would've made a lot more sense to find out why the dogs were barking,
and
eliminate the cause...
For the barking to tick off the neighbors, it would seem the dogs were
outdoors

I believe they were being left in a screened porch. They seemed to
think the dogs competed with each other. The neighbors were elderly
and home all day, which made them more sensitive to the noise issue.

Out of curiosity, I looked up in a number of dog training books what
the proper solution was for barking, but none of the authors seemed to
have a sure fire cure. As I recall, the typical explanation was
insecurity and the only solution was to make the dogs more secure.
Punishing them was not generally effective.

My sister-in-law grew up with the same breed of dog and never had this
problem; they'd had an earlier dog that wasn't a barker. These dogs
also had the problem of urinating on the floor when they got excited,
such as when you petted them. My brother hated these dogs.

Did the family cause the problem somehow? I don't know. I'm generally
inclined to think bad dogs have bad families, but I'm also open to the
idea that even the best environment can't *always* overcome genetics.