John Vella

Area: Sydney North Shore & Northern Beaches

Awards:

• Dogtech® Master Trainer
• Trainer of the year 2001
• Highest Achiever 2008
• Highest Achiever 2009
• DogTech® Champion In-home Trainer 2010
  

My name is John Vella, and like you, I first discovered Dogtech® when I was having problems with my pet dog( Bonnie). A chance meeting with John Richardson (aka The Dog Whisperer) over 10 years ago saved Bonnie’s life—and changed my life forever.

I was so impressed with John’s work that I sold my business, joined Dogtech® and I am now a Dogtech® Master Trainer.

Over the years I have been able to help thousands of wayward dogs and their owners Experience: I have been able to help thousands of wayward dogs and their frustrated owners learn to live together in harmony.

These days, most of my clients are referred by dog owners I have helped in the past, as well as by many good Veterinarians, Pet stores, and Boarding Kennels I have worked with. Sometimes other trainers who find themselves unable to solve the problem recommend me.

Community Commitments

I am involved with the pet prep program to help children learn how to act around dogs.

I am regularly interviewed on radio about the importance of puppy training, and I write articles on doggy problems for pet magazines.

I am also involved in the training of Dogtech® trainers from other states as well as other countries like Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore.

One of the biggest senses of achievements I feel is when I can help someone with their doggy problems—especially when they, like me all those years ago—are at the end of their tether after trying other methods which have not worked.

Contact me for a free assessment of your doggy problems—I have been there, and I can help you.

Contact John Vella

Testimonials

To: John Vella — Dogtech®

June 7, 2010

Simba’s Story

Our new dog, Simba, came from the pound several months ago. He is an older small dog, and was very anxious with his needs for reassurance. We thought it would settle down — we are not experienced dog owners. But it got worse. He was bonded to me, who did the cooking etc, and it was hard to leave him at all, he was so fretful. He seemed to have major allergies, biting and scratching at himself all day and night. He had red flaky skin that looked like eczema. He scampered after me all the time, climbed on the furniture, and growled very aggressively at many visitors. He also toileted in the house virtually every day. This NEVER improved.

The Vet whom we consulted about his terrible skin suggested a diet of pure kangaroo meat and sweet potato, with antihistamines twice a day. This was a logical idea. However, we did this for six weeks with NO improvement.

Enter Dogtech®

I met a lady down at Long Reef Dog Park who recommended Dogtech®. I am so grateful to her, though I don’t even know her name. At this late stage, our only option was to take him back to the pound. I did indeed consider it, simply because I couldn’t cure the toileting problem.

John Vella came for two visits. His advice has made a huge difference. The dog is secure, sleeps in his bed and behaves himself. He no longer toilets in the house, and within two weeks he stopped scratching himself; his skin is now normal-looking. He is just a nice, calm, sweet little dog who understands his secure place in our family, and likes it there.

A messed-up dog can be retrained!

Although he probably had these issues before, and these would likely have been the reason his previous owners abandoned him, he’s already a different dog. So it is entirely possible for anyone to retrain a really messed-up pound dog!

I will keep following John’s directions, as it’s lovely to be in control of this dog and for the dog to be so lovely now.

Regards, JB

To: John Vella, Dogtech Dog & Puppy Training

‘Jack’ is our 12 year old male Jack Russell. In November 2008 ‘Jack’ had a big lifestyle change when he moved with our family to Sydney after his life as a country dog sharing his days with the family and several other farm dogs in country Goulburn.

‘Jack’ didn’t cope well with city living having had very limited exposure to other dogs apart from those in his own ‘pack’, and ‘Jack’ was very much the dominant personality in his pack. He has always enjoyed a daily walk, but in open spaces, without the constraints of a lead, and with no contact with dogs other then his own pack.

Once we made the move to the city, our daily walks, which had always been a great enjoyment for ‘Jack’ and me, became an instant disaster. ‘Jack’ was very threatened by his new environment, the crowds of people, the traffic, and lots and lots of strange dogs!!!

His way of dealing with strange dogs was to bark and growl in a very bossy manner, which meant we were an unpopular pair on our daily walks, and our walks were no longer fun, but stressful and embarrassing for me, ‘Jacks’ owner.

There was worse to come!

We had only been in Sydney for approximately 1 month when ‘Jack’ was attached and badly mauled in an unprovoked attach by an unsupervised, unrestrained English Bull Terrier. He was very ill for several days, but made of tough stuff, he survived.

Our local Vet recommended we call John Vella from Dogtech, and seek his advice on ways to improve ‘Jacks’ behaviour.

Meeting with John was the best advice we could have been given. ‘Jack’ and I had 3 private sessions with John. I was taught the tactics to manage ‘Jacks’ behaviour when we encountered other dogs. ‘Jack’ and i had homework to practice every day until our next meeting with John. I was taught some very practical management tactics which have given me the confidence to discipline ‘Jack’ and slowly alter his negative behaviour.

As a result, we are enjoying our walks again and ‘Jack’ continues to improve 3 months after our last session with John.

John Vella is fantastic. His understanding of dogs is extraordinary and I feel grateful every day for the training he gave to me to manage my dog.

Thank you John, for your outstanding knowledge, advice, patience, and help.

Regards, BL & ‘Jack’

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Dear John,

We wanted to thank you for all your help with getting our naughty puppy Henry under control and especially for assisting us to understand what was causing the problems we were experiencing with him.

We called you for help after Henry was continuously mouthing and jumping. He was also becoming nearly impossible to take out on a lead without having your arm yanked off. Unfortunately, prior to calling Dogtech we thought we would try and fix these problems by sending him away for a week for intensive obedience training. Whilst we did this with the best of intentions, this was a terrible mistake and the dog we received back was frightened of us, with the problems we wanted fixed remaining. It took us a few days for Henry to lose his fear of my husband and me and seeing him like this was heartbreaking.

After seeing you for the first time, we noticed an immediate improvement in Henry’s behaviour. The methods you used were gentle and relied on positive reinforcement. we understood that Henry needed us to be gentle and fair leaders.

After the second visit, Henry could pretty much walk properly on a lead and his level of jumping and mouthing toned down considerably. After the 3rd visit, we were totally amazed to see Henry walking with you off the lead–Something we thought we would never see!

Henry is a friendly and exuberant dog and with your help, we are continuing to work with him on these problems and are seeing dramatic improvement in his behaviour all the time. Essentially, we are seeing the development of a good canine citizen and a much loved, wonderful family pet.

We would be happy to recommend you to anyone having problems with their pooch!

Wishing you all the best, LR

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To Whom it mat concern:

I would like to start by saying Dogtech along with John Vella have saved our dog’s life–literally!

Our 4year old mini foxie had bitten two of our friends–first time visitors to our home. This had my husband and I very concerned as she had never bitten anyone before.

So we decided to get some advice fro our Vet, who we had used since she was a pup.

We told him what had happened and he said that it was unacceptable for dogs to behave in such a manner and if it was his decision he would put her down.

I was shocked to hear this was his solution to our problem. My husband persisted with the Vet and asked him if there was an alternative. He was very reluctant to help us, and so came up with his next useless suggestion, ‘I can give her a shot to sedate her, but it may not work’.

Not a viable option at $80 a pop and it is not guaranteed to even work, besides the fact we didn’t want our dog in an induced state. After 20 minutes and no real solution, my husband asked if there was someone that could help us train Chloe and examine why she was exhibiting such aggressive behaviour.

Finally, he produced a Dogtech leaflet. Our Vet said these were the only company worth trying, but he didn’t hold out much hope for Chloe.

We came out of his room feeling helpless, very sad and depressed, until a lady in the waiting room saw us with the leaflet and told my husband that she had used them and they were fantastic. She said she had used John Vella and told us to specifically request his help when booking our appointment.

So the next day my husband made our first appointment with John–we didn’t know at the time but it would come to be the best thing we have ever done for Chloe and for our relationship with Chloe and our other dog, Molly.

After only 3 lessons over a couple of months we now have a happy and confident dog who is like a new girl! She now walks on her lead without pulling or stopping to sniff every blade of grass, she doesn’t growl or snap at strangers and walks straight past cats!

She still occasionally barks at a knock on the front door or a dog on the footpath out the front, but all we have to say is ‘ahh ahh’ and she stops.

I highly recommend Dogtech and John Vella to every dog owner, regardless of whether they are having difficulties with their dog/s. Dogtech and John have shown us how to interact with our dogs on a level the dogs understand and respect. Chloe is now a happy, confident and calmer dog who is a pleasure to be with.

Once again John, we can not thank you enough for your help with Chloe!

Warm regards, F & S R.

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8th July 2007

To Whom it may concern:

To anyone out there who has any issue with their dog–John Vella is your saviour.

Having had our dear neighbours very painfully have to mention the ‘barking’ issue with our Border Collie/Kelpie, I turned to John Vella from Dogtech.

After two fascinating meetings at our home and following John’s advice for a month, we now have a calm, happy, stress-free dog and that has actually transferred to the whole family dynamics.

John will open your eyes to the wonder and awe of these precious animals and how, we, in our blind ignorance, have to be retrained when it comes to dog issues. I cannot recommend him highly enough and I know I speak on behalf of my husband and children too, who love the whole new routine and system.

On behalf of Pepper who is now a much happier dog, ‘Woof Woof!’

THANK YOU!

M & C E., St Ives

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Mona Vale Veterinary Hospital–Mona Vale, NSW

To whom it may concern:

It has been our pleasure to know and associate with John Vella and his company Dogtech for the past 10 years. Primarily, our association has centred on his professional behaviour modification work with some of our clients dogs.

During all our contacts with John, he has conducted himself in a friendly and professional manner and the training has been very effective. It is a privilege to recommend John and his ability to train.

Sincerely, Vera Pickering BVSc(HONS)

Veterinary Surgeon  & Practice Owner–Mona Vale Veterinary Hospital

September 2011

Dear John,

Sorry it has taken us so long to send this message.  We just wanted to let you know that we really enjoyed doing the training with you. It gave us a real insight into why Buddy had been behaving the way he was.

Jason and Buddy had been the closest of friends for several years before I came into Jason’s life.

Buddy was very protective of Jason and his house in England.

When Buddy came over to Australia in early 2009 he didn’t adjust very well to his new surroundings and was possibly traumatised after spending 30 days in quarantine.

We had a couple of incidents where Buddy snapped at people including a young child.  As we love Buddy so much we would never want to have to be in the position where he attacked someone and we were faced with having him put on the dangerous dog list or worse still put to sleep.

We had a couple of sessions with you and you taught us that Buddy needs to understand we are in control and he needs to know his place in the pack.  It has been a slow process but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks over night.

Since we have had the training we have felt much more comfortable about having new friends in the house and gradually introducing him to people.  We are due to move house next month.

Thank you.

Warm regards

Jason and Zoe