Day Five (or "The Day Porter Found his Bark")

Yesterday was a momentous day. I actually heard Porter bark. Not just a half-hearted 'woof' but a deep down, full bellied, full throated bark unique to big dogs. Until yesterday, he had never really barked. I thought perhaps somewhere he might have some latent Basenji DNA (Basenji's are dogs that don't bark - although they do make some interesting yodeling noise as well as howling and growling). I admit, I wasn't upset that he didn't bark. It was a bit of a relief, in fact, to have a silent dog, as my dogs at home are anything but..
We were out in the backyard when it happened. I was throwing Porter the ball with one hand while holding my lunch time sandwich with the other. I don't even know what it was that set him off, but the next thing I knew he was over by the fence and proceeded to let out a series of big healthy WOOFs and then ran to the patio door like he wanted to go inside and bark some more. I elected to keep him outside though and he continued to run up to the fence, plant his big paws, lower his head and just bark, and bark, and bark, and bark....and then he stopped. And I haven't heard him bark again since then. Very strange...