20 month old smacking me and the poor dog

[Bunnybunzer100]

My DD has started smacking and hitting out at me. I had been saying "please don't hit mummy" and last couple of days I've been reinforcing that sentence with putting her on the floor and ignoring.

But she's been getting up from the floor and going straight to our beloved dog, Cooper... looking at me straight in the eye and smacking our pooch! I find it hard to keep my cool now and put her back on the floor and say loudly "no, don't hit Cooper that's not nice you must be kind to Cooper she's our darling" and she then whaling on the floor, gets up and
hits Cooper and we repeat the process.

Does anybody have any tips?

Leave her alone. After saying with a stern voice, " no hitting" put her on the floor and leave the room with your dog, and if the room is not safe, put her in her bed and leave her alone.
Repeat until she gets the message that hitting on purpose will result in isolation,

This is a difficult one, she's experimenting, it's not naughty. I speak as an ex CM/nanny EY teacher M of 3. Has she seen anyone 'hitting' anyone at nursery or anywhere else? She doesn't know it hurts.

I allowed my DD to get scratched by our cat after telling her not to pull his tail MANY times. She never did it again. That sounds harsh I know but she learned by experience not nagging !