I think you're brave for admitting what you did but I hope this won't happen again. I'm sure you know that hitting an animal or person doesn't teach them anything - especially with an animal..this just teaches him to be more secretive.

I think this is a dog training and people training issue - meaning the person needs to be aware of cues from your dog, when he needs to go potty. Is he sick - does he have diarhea? Is he normally house trained? Make sure to get a cleaning product which takes away all the odour - dogs will smell where they went and tend to re-offend. Hitting won't prevent him from poohing again - it just makes him afraid of you.

Next time - give your dog lots of opportunity to go out. If he's normally house trained, he may be sick. If he poohs again, just clean it up. Take some deep calming breaths. You're not a terrible person...you made a mistake. You can prevent this from happening again.

I went through extensive training with my dog and I'm willing to help. If this happened when you weren't home - I recommend a crate for your dog that's just big enough for him to stand up and turn around. A dog won't poop in their crate as long as it's not too big. But if a dog is sick with diarhea, then he'll poop anywhere because he can't hold it. I give you credit for admitting this. I'm sorry your pet is injured.