Training?

So, it's been about two and a half months since we brought our fuzzbutt home. He already had a solid "sit" when we got him and now has a fairly good "wait" that we can rely on him doing about 85% of the time (with a continual repeat of the command, he will wait at the door or away from his food.) Of course he's also a Shiba, so sometimes he knows what we want, I can see that ear of his acknowledging me, but he'd rather not. Frustrating at times, yes, but he's catching on he still has to do what I ask before he can get what he wants. Rarely he just figures he doesn't need whatever I will reward him with that badly and will forget the whole thing. Stubborn little cat-dog.

For about a month now, my husband and I have been trying to teach him "paw", where he'll touch one of our hands with his paw, almost like a shake. He doesn't mind us touching his paws terribly much, and I see his leg move back at the command, but it's like pulling teeth to get him to do it. I usually have to start poking on the back of his leg before he'll move it, then I say the command again and give him his treat. I'm thinking maybe his reward needs to be better, but there's only so many pieces of cheese or hot dog I'd be willing to give him. Been looking into other treats, but I want something he'd like, wouldn't be terrible in larger training quantities, and isn't chicken. Also been meaning to teach Koji other tricks like "down", "crawl", and "make dinner" though I feel the last one might be left to dreams and fantasy lands.

I've been thinking of picking up a book on clicker training and wondering if that might help in letting him know faster that he just did a behavior we want. I feel like I might be confusing him a little (on top of his stubborn nature) so perhaps a more clear cut clicker answer might be what we need, though I'd have to read up on how to use it, first.

On a different note, I think Koji is starting to shed. :(