Not quite the full Monty

There are some days when working in rescue that I spend most of the day wanting to cry.  I picked up Matthew and didn't think he looked too matted.  Of course at that time I hadn't touched him.  After dinner, I started slowing shaving his ears.  They were the size of hound dogs ears when I started and now are tiny things.  I honestly thought he had big ears with how much matting there was.  He had pooped matted to his butt and when we first got him, he wasn't even able to poop without it first getting stuck in his hair.  After several hours of shaving him on and off, I only have his legs, neck and a small spot on his stomach to do.  I'll post pictures later of the largest three mats that I pulled off him.  The rest came off in small pieces here and there.  This is the worst cruelty I've seen as far as a dogs grooming goes.  I've renamed him Monty... yes as in the full monty.  Hell, he's almost naked now, why not.  I'm a little pissed that our usual groomer didn't want to take him on immediately because his mats would dull her clippers.  What the hell are we paying her for then?  By the time she gets a hold of him, he will have no hair left at all.  The only thing she'll need to do is trim up his face and in between his toes.  I can tell you my trimmers have just about had all they can take.  It takes a lot to shave through all that hair when it's not matted together.  And throughout all the shaving, cutting and pulling, he was happy and sweet.  I know he has to be in pain where all those mats are and yet he runs around like the young dog he is.  He is also in need of a diet.  We'll start that once I'm completely done shaving him.  I just don't think it's right to torture him for hours with clippers and then not give him treats.  He only really needs to lose about five pounds since he's a little dog.  I wasn't too impressed by him when I went to pick him up.  Typical little dog, bouncing around like a nutcase.  I thought oh this is gonna be a great one.  I'm not a fan of hyper little dogs.  He calmed down once we got home though.  For his small size, he is extremely strong.  He was pulling me on the leash and he's a LITTLE dog.  It just makes me really sad to look at his sweet little face and know that these people looked at him too and let him suffer.  The hair on his ears was pulled so tight that it was bleeding in places.  His skin is red and sensitive.  I just don't understand how you can look at him day in and day out and do nothing.  I mean they didn't even attempt to cut it themselves.  I've told him several times it will never happen again and I intend to stand by that.  He's going to go to a stellar home no if's and's or but's.  After what he's been through, he deserves nothing less.