I've been feeding raw for 8 years now but I researched (not saying you haven't) about raw feeding and took a long time to build up the courage to do it. I hadn't read about other people doing raw when I decided so I didn't have people telling me how great it was, it was just a natural progression that I came to myself. I never had problems with any bones given to dogs over 8 weeks old, but I followed a book which said give meat first then bones right afterwards so I never gave chicken wings until my oldest was about 12 mths old. But she was having lamb bones and chicken thigh bones after I cut all the meat off these bones.
I have only had a problem with chicken bones with this last litter and it was because they were so greedy and seemed to be just swallowing whole or crunching once or twice and then gone. I do remember Bronte woofing either a wing or a thigh and although it went down fine, the day after she was having a real struggle having a poop. I then realised there was a shard of bone protruding from her bottom but part of the shard had also snagged her bowel wall and it was just stuck. I took a pair of long nosed pliars, stuck her on a table, steadied her with one hand and split the bone in the middle with the other so she could pass it, then sitting with a ice pop on her swollen botty with KY jelly on it whilst just getting her checked over by the vet. After that I decided they were too eager with their food so either held wings with a pair of pliars whilst the pups ate most of it or bashed the bones until they were more like pulp so there were no large shards. I didn't have any further issues after that. These pups were between 7-8 weeks at this time.
I also know of a dog who was given a cooked chicken carcass and it splintered inside the dog and they lost her, she was only about 5 yrs old at the time and it was such a shock to hear when they told us. Up until that point I'd never known any dog to die from eating cooked bones, despite the warnings, and to this day I have never heard of another, known personally to us.
If you are feeding raw your dog will need to be fed bones. But I always tell people you have to be 100% sure that you want to feed raw because there are so many people who will condemn it so you need to be sure its what you believe in. I can only say dogs over about 4 mths of age who are deemed healthy should have no problems eating and digesting bones, but if you are slightly worried there is no harm in pre bashing your wings and bones to within an inch of their "life" with a hammer so that you are sure there are no large splinters. You can also get minced meat for dogs with the bones already ground up in it.
