The highest-profile player in the AFL coming out-of-contract, the Dogs captain is going nowhere after signing a new four-year deal.
"I've had a few different things happening - getting married in the off-season, opening a small coffee shop out in Kew - but ultimately it is no different to how I've dealt with other things in the past," Bontempelli said.
"It's an important decision to spend the right amount of time.
"This club means so much to me, it's hard to put it into a few words to be honest.
"It is where I have grown as a man and spent all of my adult years coming here at 18.
"When I think about the person I want to become it has been influenced by the people I have spent a lot of time with at the Western Bulldogs.
"I owe so much from a footballing experience perspective but I think I really owe a lot of my maturing as a person and as a man to the football club.
"For me, it's such a special place, the fans, the people that have supported me along the way.
"I've never not felt supported by our people here at the club.
"I feel incredibly lucky to have had that for so long."
Confirmation of the news comes a night after Bontempelli was named the club's second-greatest ever player, only behind the legendary Ted Whitten.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was excited about Bontempelli's future when asked about it last Wednesday: "I think we're getting close, but that's all I can really say."
The 29-year-old has played 253 games for the Bulldogs after being taken with pick four in the 2013 draft.
A tall, big-bodied midfielder, Bontempelli made his mark on the competition instantly.
Bontempelli won the first of his six Charles Sutton medals as the Bulldogs' best-and-fairest in 2016, the season the club broke a 62-year premiership drought.
The signing is a boost for the Bulldogs following two-straight defeats that has them sitting outside of the top-eight ahead of the final five weeks of the season.
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