TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER The Bookworm Sez Advertisement

You probably never even noticed the sign tacked to the telephone pole as you walked past it the other day.

Maybe you never saw it because there have been other posters, some professionally done and others drawn by the hand of a saddened child.

"Missing," it says, or "Lost." The sign goes on to describe a beloved dog or cat that isn't asleep on its owner's bed, playing in the yard or begging in the kitchen.

Pet owners know the frantic hole-in-your-heart feeling that comes with a missing pet. We know what we'd do to get our four-footed "kid" back.

But Sonny Brewer went the extra mile -- literally. In the new book "Cormac: The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing," you'll read the story of a best friend found, lost and found again.

Every dog lover has a story of the World's Best Dog. That's the pooch who becomes an extension of us, the one who knows what we want before we do, the one we communicate with better than all others.

Sonny Brewer thought his "World's Best Dog" was the pup he had as a boy.

That was until Cormac came into his life.

As a sort of "replacement" for an over-exuberant Jack Russell terrier that went to live with a neighbor, the Brewer family did their research and knew they wanted a golden retriever. They were "just looking" when they made a visit to a breeder, but dog lovers know how deceptive those two words are.

Cormac -- so named for an Irish king -- came home with them that day, a small bundle of fur, chosen on the spot.

But who chose whom? Though he was meant as a family dog and he loved everyone, Cormac quickly, clearly became Sonny's boy.

He went to work at the bookstore Brewer owned. He shadowed Brewer almost everywhere. He seemed to listen closely and communicate well, and he became Brewer's muse as Brewer finished his first novel.

Cormac was there when the novel was sold and he was there when Brewer left on tour to promote it.

But he wasn't there when Brewer came home. A thunderstorm blew in. Cormac blew past the invisible fence surrounding the Brewer house, and into "the system."

Can dogged determination bring back a purloined pooch?

Can any dog lover resist this book?

Mixing a smidge of gentle homespun action, the love of friends, a fistful of intrigue, and a couple of outrageous nasties, Brewer tells Cormac's story with an admittedly small bit of embellishment.

As a puppy mom who's lost a few dogs for about a half-hour each, I could identify with every frantic minute that Brewer remembers, and I wanted to hug the good friends who helped him in his search. Although you might sense the outcome of this doggone good book, if you're a dog lover, you shouldn't miss it. "Cormac" is a story that will thrill anyone who's ever had a pet gone lost -- and found -- for a minute, a day, or forever.

"Cormac: The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing" by Sonny Brewer, MacAdam Cage, $13 paperback / $17 hardcover, 230 pages.