Hahaha... It's great to read about people putting as much time and obsession into caring for their furbabies as I have - and YT is filled with us.
I have been looking into feeding my 6mo old puppy a raw diet for awhile now, and as simple as it ends up being according to most folks, you do need to do a good bit of research on it first.
From what I understand, there are two basic schools of thought on feeding a dog raw food, like they would get in nature. First is the Prey Model Raw diet, and second is the BARF diet. Prey Model Raw is supposed to as closely as possible emulate how a dog would eat in nature - you basically feed ONLY raw meat, you leave it on the bone and let them rip it up on their own, and even chew up the bone and eat it too. And you also make sure they get a small percentage of innards, like raw liver. The BARF diet, from what I understand, still relies on feeding raw meat as the protein source, but also believes dogs need other stuff, like pureed fruit and veggies. BARF folks, it seems to me, tend to make patties for their dog to eat, a blend of the meat and bones and other stuff all smooshed together in what looks like a tiny raw hamburger patty. Ah yes, and you can also now buy these raw patties from companies, pre-made and frozen for your convenience. :-) Like I said, there's a good bit of research you'll want to do before feeding exclusively or even mostly raw - especially for a growing puppy who needs super good nutrition to grow up big and strong and healthy! :-)
Also from my research, it seems most people agree on starting with a raw meat that isn't too rich - like chicken, as you mentioned. I have about twelve chicken legs in my freezer right now, waiting until I get the nerve to start my puppy on a prey model raw style diet. :-) Here's a link to one thread here on YT with a TON of great info and several great links about feeding prey model raw:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...odel-diet.html It took me a long time to read all the way through it, but it was worth it!
Hopefully some more people who actually have experience with feeding raw will reply to your thread, help you out some more, and correct anything I may have screwed up in my interpretation.
Best of luck to you, whatever you decide. And congratulations on your new little boy! I'm looking forward to maybe seeing some pictures of him???
Now that he's been neutered, Nikko tells me that boys are the best and girls have cooties
Lauren & Nikko