Help! Overheard my father saying he wants to give my dog away.?

I was shocked when I heard my dad talking to my mom about possibly giving away my 9month old BC/Aussie mix. She's a very wonderful dog and I have bonded with her. I love her! My mother is crazy about her, heck the whole family is. But, over the past couple of weeks she has started barking early in the am and awoken my father. She never barks during the day but I've noticed gets really spooked at night. She's actually barking at the owls when they "hoot". We live in the country and when the owls start hooting she goes crazy. I have read a book on training and barking and it just suggested to get a can w/ coins inside and shake it at the dog when it barks. First of all who is going to go out at 4:00 am, plus I've done this before and my dog liked me coming out to her, cared less about the can, and viewed it as more incentive to bark. She's only started this recently and I've only heard her twice. What suggestions do you have? Also, the book mentioned a device that sends out high pitch annoying noise to the dog when they bark...does this work? What can I do to keep my beloved dog?