As scratching dog said, anti-barking collar works by itself everytime the dog barks. Electric collar as a training aid has a remote control that operates it in the hands of the trainer. I have to say that many trainers are against it and even those that use it take extra caution and not use it for long periods of time. What I talk about are working / guarding dog trainers, not basic behaviour lessons, people that work with bandogs, pressas etc. They do use it, but... I did try an electric collar for a very short time in a dog of mine for potty training at ten plus months of age, do not really recall. I didn't manage to produce any results probably due to my ignorance.