"Success!" the airport tweeted ATLANTA — A lost dog who went missing at the Atlanta airport moments before she was set to fly to the Netherlands after competing in a dog show has been found! The Atlanta airport tweeted that Gayle has been found. "Kudos to #ATL’s Ops team for its effort in bringing her back...," the airport tweeted. Wildlife biologists with Hartsfield-Jackson said that Gayle was in "excellent" condition when they found her. "This is a rare occurrence, normally the dogs stay in their kennels and we don't have them out on the airfield," said wildlife biologist Steven Boyd. "It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that we saw the dog on the airfield and then on Monday morning we saw the dog in the rock quarry -- that's where we ended up apprehending the dog, so to say." Boyd said the airport's rock quarry is positioned between the center complex between two major runways and has a stormwater retention pond. The biologists said they believed Gayle went there in search of water and a quiet place to hide. "Steve lost his voice last night because he was calling for her," said fellow wildlife biologist Jeff Miller. "Yesterday we were calling and whistling. We had to put ourselves in the mindset of a domesticated animal -- where to go for shelter, get away from the noise and find water." The team said they used infrared cameras and utilized the help of air traffic controllers, airlines, operations and customs to coax the dog out of her hiding place. The dog's handler was finally called to the rock quarry to call her out. Boyd said he went through a security clearance and had to be escorted to the site. Even with him there, it took Gayle about 20 minutes to come to his call. "Seeing her today safe and sound and back with her owner is very rewarding," Boyd said. Floris van Essen said his dog Gayle and another dog were bound for home in Amsterdam after being showed at an event in the U.S. over the weekend. Van Essen said Gayle was secure in her crate and had gone through security nearly three hours before the flight was set to depart. But 10 minutes before boarding, the people handling her were asked over the terminal speaker to talk to airport representatives. That's when van Essen said they were told that when crews went to load the kennel, it was empty. The handlers were asked to board the flight anyway, but were promised airport staff would continue to search for Gayle. "As you can imagine, this is just a horrible ordeal," van Essen told 11Alive in a message. Airport staff had been searching for Gayle - a 22-month-old Red-white American Staffordshire Terrier - since. Multiple pilots reported seeing Gayle in thickets surrounding the airport in the day since she went missing, but searchers had not been able to reach her. That all change, Monday, when Gayle finally sniffed out a bait, allowing airport operations teams to find her and reunite her with her handler. LOVE PETS? Follow K9Kait for more animal stories<doc-sep>"We're really missing a family member," the dog's owner said before the reunion. The prize-winning show dog that disappeared in one of the world's busiest airports for three days after being checked in for a flight has been found. Gale, a pure-bred American Staffordshire terrier whose owners live in Amsterdam, has been located and reunited with her family, the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport announced on social media Tuesday. The dog was being shown in the United States by her handlers and had one final event in Louisville, Kentucky, before she was scheduled to fly home Saturday. It was not immediately clear where Gale was found. A spokesperson for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that the dog was flown home to her owners. Gale's handlers had brought her and another dog to the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday, where they checked in for their KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight and went through security. Not long after the handlers boarded the Amsterdam-bound plane in Atlanta, they were informed that Gale's kennel was found empty when crews went to load her crate onto the aircraft. The handlers immediately called her owners. "Me and my wife completely panicked," Gale's owner, Floris Van Essen, told ABC News in a telephone interview from the Netherlands’ capital on Monday. "We were out of our minds. You can imagine it's horrific to hear that a dog is gone and nobody knows where she is." Van Essen said they've been in touch with the airport, the airline as well as the baggage handler, but being thousands of miles away and in different time zones "isn't helping." "There's a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness because there's nothing you can do," he added. Authorities and airport officials, including wildlife biologists on staff, had been trying to track down the dog ever since. "The dog somehow got out of the crate and is now running around the airfield," Andrew Gobeil, a spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, told ABC News in an interview Monday. "We have about 4,600 acres of field out there, from the airfield and from the woods area. So we're looking throughout the entire airport." "We're optimistic that we'll find Gale," Gobeil added. "We understand how important the dog is to the family structure when we want to make sure that we get Gale home safely." A spokesperson for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines told ABC News the dog "broke out of its cage as it was being loaded into the cargo" of the plane. Gale's owners described the dog as "friendly" and "loving," but said she is likely scared and skittish in an unknown area. "We're really missing a family member," Van Essen told ABC News. "We don't have any children, the dogs are our children. Her brother lives here, her mother lives here, and we really want her back home safe." ABC News' Jeffrey Cook, Nicholas Coulson, Julia Jacobo, Janice McDonald and Marissa Parra contributed to this report.<doc-sep>A dog went missing for four days at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, in what sounds like a potential reboot of the 2006 film Unaccompanied Minors where children ran wild in a snowbound airport. The dog, a 22-month-old American Staffordshire Terrier named Gale, was on her way home to Amsterdam after competing in a dog show in Louisville, Kentucky, when she escaped from her crate. According to CNN, the pup’s crate was being held in the airfield as workers were getting ready to load her on to the cargo area of a KLM flight bound for Amsterdam. When their backs were turned, she somehow reenacted a Harry Houdini routine and escaped. Her human companions got the news that the dog was missing just as they were preparing to board the plane themselves. They understandably “freaked out” over the fact that their beloved, prize pup was running loose on the busy airport’s tarmac. The airport workers quickly jumped into action to try and locate the little escape artist. Pilots and other airport workers reported Gale sightings and the airport’s ops team set baited traps in the hopes of catching the dog and the airport’s resident wildlife biologist was trudging through the surrounding thicket and water traps calling for the runaway dog. It took four days, but eventually when Gale’s owner called for the dog, she came running and jumped into his arms. The airport tweeted out the pup’s sweet reunion with her owner. No word on whether Gale has been contacted by Hollywood agents for the rights to her big adventure. Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. 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(CNN) — A show dog that was flying home to Amsterdam after her last competitive event was found after she’d been missing from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for four days, the airport tweeted. Gale, a 22-month-old American Staffordshire Terrier, was traveling with her handlers after participating in a dog show in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday. Officials said that Gale broke out of her crate in the airfield as workers were loading the crate into the cargo area of a KLM flight. “They were waiting at the gate, about to board the flight, when they were called to the desk and told the crate was empty,” owner Floris van Essen told CNN. “All of us were freaked out, to be honest.” The Louisville dog show was Gale’s last event before she retired to live with the van Essens full time, the owner said. Gale was spotted on the airfield about 3:30 a.m. Monday by pilots, said airport spokesman Andy Gobeil. Atlanta Airport Gale was found Tuesday after four days missing. Authorities set up a trap involving food to catch the pooch. She was in a thicket at one point, Gobeil said. An airport wildlife biologist was one of the many looking for Gale. He spotted her and was out in the airfield calling for her all day on Monday. “He had lost his voice. But he was out here again early this morning,” Gobeil said Tuesday before the dog was found. “He’s traipsing through the water that we have out there. It’s very very cold. But he is doing everything he can.” By Tuesday afternoon, Gale’s great escape came to an end. Her handler was calling out for her on airport premises and she ran and jumped into his arms. Even though traps were set, Gale stayed away from them, according to the airport spokesperson. KLM expressed its “sincerest regrets” in an earlier statement to CNN. Van Essen and his wife flew to Amsterdam separately. He said that they appreciate the efforts of all involved. “All the people willing to help, the volunteers, everyone at the airport,” he said. “It’s been heartwarming.” CNN’s Marylynn Ryan, Trisha Ahmed and Rebekah Riess contributed to this story.