First of all, I think if you have anger issues where you feel the need to hit an animal -- you should be seeing a therapist to deal with that.
It's one thing to be frustrated, it's quite another to physically harm your dog and it's completely unacceptable.
Your dog is **six** months old. He is still very much a BABY. Would you hit a human child for having an accident? I don't think so. Besides the physical pain I'm sure he experienced, you are doing a lot of emotional damage to this dog by hitting, yelling, and forcing him into his crate.
He will never learn anything but to fear you and you will completely obliterate his self confidence and trust in you if you continue to do this.
At the end of the day, it is *your* fault if your puppy has an accident... not his. You need to have your eyes on him at all times to be sure that he's not eliminating in the wrong spot and if you cannot be there you need to have him confined to a specific area. |