My Husband Wants to Take Serious Legal Action Against a Neighbor. He’s a First Grader.

Dear Abby,

There’s a boy in my neighborhood,about 7 years old who regularly wanders into people’s backyards without permission and hangs around for a while before leaving. Last week my husband found him in our yard. We have a Doberman who is very territorial, and it’s honestly a stroke of luck that the dog wasn’t outside when the child came in.

Since then, we’ve started locking our gates, but the boy often climbs over fences when he finds a gate that won’t open. We’ve tried speaking with his parents, but that hasn’t helped. They’ve told us and several other neighbors that they can’t watch him every minute.

Many homes in our area have dogs, and quite a few have swimming pools, so this situation feels dangerous as well as frustrating. Now we make a point of checking our yard before letting our dog out, just in case he’s wandered in again.

My husband is so concerned that he says the next time it happens, he wants to file trespassing charges. Is that too extreme, or is it time to take stronger action?

—Good Fences Apparently Don’t Make Good Neighbors