Forget Fido.

Son of Brutality. Havoc. Newsense. Problem Child.

These names are the sort favored by Dayton Bodine, proprietor of Killinois Kennels headquartered on North 11th Street in Springfield. And he makes no apologies for the monikers or for owning more than a dozen pit bulls.

“If you can’t look past the names, you’ve got problems,” says Bodine, who has been breeding pit bulls since 1999. “I’ve probably had more pit bulls than anyone in this city.”

Fierce-sounding names are good for business, says Bodine.

“That’s what people are looking for, you know what I mean,” he said.

But Bodine’s dogs act anything but menacing.

Rocky, for instance, preferred licking to biting Wednesday afternoon. Two 5-month-old puppies that Bodine keeps crated when strangers visit erupt in jealous whines when one gets petted while the other is ignored. If these dogs were prize-fighters, they’d be George Foreman during the grill-pitchman phase of his career: Too fat to fight.

“I think they look like little porkers,” says Ledy VanKavage, who owns three pit bulls and serves as director of legal training and education for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bodine keeps 13 pit bulls on property in Menard County, where he gets nothing but praise from county animal control officer Bev Vice, who is so impressed that she’s invited Bodine to walk his dogs in Petersburg’s harvest parade this fall. She won’t reveal where they’re kept for fear they’ll be stolen.

“He has some dogs out there that are just absolutely incredible,” Vice said.

Not everyone feels the same way. Vice said she has been called out to Bodine’s kennel at least twice, most recently by sheriff’s deputies who wanted her to confiscate the dogs. The animals stayed put.

“I told Dayton, ‘The only thing I could cite you for would be taking too good of care of your dogs,’” Vice said. “They were all extremely healthy. There was not a mark on them. The pens were clean — everything was clean. As far as I know, his dogs have never gotten out. I’m so proud of that kid.”

The 27-year-old Bodine, who trades in pit bull semen as well as puppies, says people see his dogs and draw the wrong conclusions.

“Out there, it’s in the country,” Bodine said. “People aren’t used to seeing stuff like that. They’re just assuming there was dog-fighting going on and what-not.”

Bodine allows that his dogs wouldn’t be harmless to a burglar.

“You [begin ital]will[end ital] get bit — very badly,” he said. “All dogs bite. Pit bulls are just a little more athletic. I don’t think it’s a crime to have a protective dog. My dogs are inside and contained. Keep your eyes on your dogs and nothing will happen. They’re escape artists. If you can’t control your dog, you don’t need it.”

Lauren Malmberg, animal shelter director in Peoria, said pit bulls are over-represented in her caseload of dog bites, but she doesn’t blame the breed. Rather, there are a large number of pit bulls, she said, and their owners, more so than owners of other breeds, don’t neuter or spay their pets and keep them chained in yards where they can’t socialize with people or other animals. It adds up to a recipe for dog bites.

“Typically, the pit bulls, they don’t have a chance, really, in most of the homes they’re in,” Malmberg said.

Bodine charges about $500 for a dog, but works full time and regards his breeding as more a hobby than a business. He was 16 when he got his first pit bull, Roxy.

Since then, he’s never wanted any other breed. He’s afraid recent pit bull attacks in Springfield will lead to restrictions that won’t allow him to keep his best friends anymore.

“I’m very, very, very concerned,” he said. “I ain’t got a mommy. I ain’t got a daddy.

“These dogs are my life.”

Contact Bruce Rushton at (217) 788-1542.

If looks could kill 

There is, quite literally, a big difference between Dayton Bodine’s pit bulls and ones bred for fighting.

Bodine’s dogs are huge, more than twice the size of dogs whose owners train them to fight until death. A pit bull owned by disgraced NFL star Michael Vick against a dog owned by Bodine?

No contest.

“This dog versus one of those 30-pound dogs that hasn’t eaten in seven days, this dog will die,” said Bodine as he nuzzled Rocky, who he estimated weighs about 80 pounds. “He’s got a very big head, and that’s what I breed for.”

It adds up to a fearsome-looking dog, and that’s precisely the point.

“I like my dog to look mean so he doesn’t have to get mean,” Bodine said.