Question: Why can't Mr and Mrs Parker go next door to the Bumpus and tell them to control their dogs, so they won't bother them?
Answer: You'd have to go back and watch a movie called *It Runs in the Family*. It's sort of a summertime Christmas story. All the actors are different, but it's Ralphie during the summer, and they actually go over to the Bumpass house and have more interaction with them.
It Runs in the Family is a completely different movie and has no connection to A Christmas Story. The movie you're referring to is called My Summer Story. It Runs in the Family was a tagline on the movie cover.
It is the same movie. It was released under both titles.
Answer: Who's to say they didn't? Ralphie describes the Bumpuses as 'hillbillies' so they might not care too much about controlling their animals or what they neighbors thought, and apparently the old man was the only one the dogs ever bothered so it would be hard to prove they were a general nuisance. Of course, the turkey incident might have tipped the scales.
Brian Katcher