I'll take my golden with his 80lb "big boy bark" used sparingly and when appropriate. My experience with yappy dogs is that they also yap at hallucinations.
I've never met a dog I didn't like (even Rommel the Rottweiler, lived across the street from me a number of years ago).
I will agree that Pippin barks at things we sometimes can't see. But he will bark. Back when we were in our twenties and the oldest kids were still babies, my husband's black lab was so laid back (we were thinking of the kids) that he wouldn't bark at strangers at all. The only thing they had to worry about was being slobbered on. Not really what you want in a watch dog.
We are dog lovers here as well and my biggest heartburn with some dogs is that they haven't been properly trained. Obnoxious dogs and obnoxious children drive me up a wall. And both are caused by irresposible adults.