Two year old hitting dogs

I'm having a difficult time teaching my daughter that hitting the dogs is a very bad behavior. She is 2 1/2. i never leave her unattended with them. She is normally a nice loving girl, who hugs and kisses our dogs, even lays with them and helps me feed them. I try to envolve her in small household chores, like putting the food dishes out. In the last few months she has been using her toys to hit the dogs as she chases them, and she laughs about it. as soon as this happens i get between her and the dog and tell her how she's hurting them and to stop, then the toy is taken away, of course she freaks out and starts screaming. she thinks this is a fun "game" and everytime she is told how she is hurting them and she is punished with the same method or with time out. now, she tries to pull the dogs into her bedroom and close the door to do this, which makes me think she knows it's wrong if she's trying to hide it. i go over and let them out or i get to her before she gets to the room and i take her hand off the collar as she screams and spits at me. now she is trying to take them in her room everyday. i'm not sure what else to do to make her understand she hurts them. i'm not sure if this is a normal behavior, no one we know hits their dogs, including us. our dogs are large and i'm worried that one day the dogs are going to defend themselves. i've taught her to play ball with the dogs, and how to brush them. but once a day or so she still tries to hit them using one of her toys. is this just a phase she is going through? what else can i do to make her understand she has to stop?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You're doing fine; you'll just have to persist. Let her know, as you have, that hitting is not allowed. Any time she does it, place her immediately in time out (use a chair). Use a timer to track the minutes, and start the timer (a self-standing variety - not a timer on a microwave) only when she is seated quietly in the chair. Have her sit from 3-5 minutes. When it's time for her to get up, repeat "No hitting the dogs".