I would have to say no. It's a natural thing for dogs to bark, most of the time they do it they are doing it because something needs to be brought to your attention.

Yes. I trained my dog to stop barking and to speak on command. If he's trying to warn me of something, I will listen, but if I feel he's barking for no specific reason, then I tell him not to.

A dog trainer could help with this. Many cities offer this through parks & recreation, at a reduced cost, as opposed to a private trainer.

You may be surprised to learn that dogs speak more with their BODY LANGUAGE than they do vocalizing! But, it's true. They speak to each other and to us constantly with how they stand, their eye and ear placement, how they are carrying their tails, the stiff or relaxed posture, where they are holding their heads...up high, low or mostly level with their back. Generally they bark when they are unable to physically be in the presence of another dog or person that they want to "speak" with. For example, someone walking past the house, another dog being walked past the house, the mail carrier, the garbage collector, the FED-X or UPS delivery person. Also noises they can hear, but not accurately identify. I'll allow a woof or two, and I listen to the "tone" of the bark...Hannah has different tones...her bark if someone is coming to the door that she knows and loves is a lot different than the one she uses if it is the poor trash man...(those guys pull right up to the house and then THEY TAKE STUFF!!!!! How DARE THEY!) However, if she is vocalizing off the chart and it is starting to annoy me...you better believe I REDIRECT HER to do something else, something ACCEPTABLE for her to do...pretty damn quick! She and Patch ARE our "early warning system" to inform us if someone is on our property, or outside milling about, who may not need to be there...but after a woof or two...I expect them to knock it off, if I have checked and have told them ..."it's ok, that's enough!"

If you live in the country no problem. If you live in close proximity to others you need to keep your dog from barking. If he only barks if someone comes close to the house, that's OK.