Quote Originally Posted by Canis-Lupess
My dogs ask for any treats they get by giving a paw.

All you have to do is get a treat and hold it in your hand. Show it to the pup so he knows it's there but close your hand before he can get it. You can hold you hand up a bit or put it on the floor at first. He'll probably nuzzle it trying to get to the treat and, sooner of later when his nuzzling and licking doesn't seem to be working, he'll try to displace your hand using his paw. When he does, immediately praise him and open your hand so he gets the treat.
Repeat this and he'll pick it up super quick. Picking the paw up yourself is more difficult for the dog to fathom because having their paw picked up by you and them picking it up on their own are two totally different things. It's bound to take ages doing it that way.
By getting him to use his paw on his own accord, it gets across to him much easier...that he has to touch your hand with his paw in order to get the treat.

Once he's ok doing it with your hand on the floor, if you start out like that, you can start holding your hand a bit higher and gradually move upwards.

Having him always ask for his treats in some way is good for maintaining respect with him knowing he has to do something you want in order to get what he wants.

Critter crazy - Some dogs do learn to paw at you even without being taught the paw trick purposely. They often resort to it when nuzzling and such don't work and so they give a paw instead.
I tried to teach my crazy hound using this tactic, but he never advanced to pawing at my hand to get the treat... he would just continuously try to nuzzle at my hand from all angles until it was completely covered in basset slobber and / or in his mouth (yes my hand)... crazy guy would spend minutes trying to get it with his mouth...