Akita's blow their coat twice per year. My female would always blow her coat in the spring and then again in the fall. I found two solutions that both work rather well. Seeing as your pup is 18 months old, try to acclimate him/her to a vaccume cleaner/shopvac. Once the hair starts to look ratty, you can just suck it right off the dog. This is rather hard to do with dogs that you are not alpha over and are not comfortable around vaccumes. You have to start early with the vaccume to get them used to it though. The second option is very labor intensive, but it was the only thing i found that could work on a regular basis. Go to the dog store and buy a horse stripper. It is a piece of metal with little teeth on one side and a handle, looks very similair to a horseshoe. Take your dog to the backyard and with fast strokes strip the hair out. It should remove large clumps at a time. If you can't figure out how to use it, take it back to the pet shop, or dog groom place, without your dog) and just ask them to show you how to use it.
