Never never never ever hit your dog. If you take him to the spot you want him to go to and treat him every time he goes He will soon get the idea. Dogs have a very short attention span if you don't get them in that split second they have no idea what you are punishing them for. It takes a little more time and work but the results are much better.
Since I was a foster before I moved I have trained many many dogs of all breeds to potty outside. The hardest to train was a 5 yr old chihuahua who had already been trained to puppy pads. Nope you are a dog you go outside. They were put on a strict feeding and pottying schedule. I had 9 week old puppys that would whine to go outside. I just had to move fast with 4 of them . :-) But they went outside.
oH FYI the whole alpha dog thing has been debunked. By the by the animal behaviourist that first came up with it.In the 1940's
If anyone is interested this is one article I came across there are many more
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2007250,00.html