Westie Clippers

Question
My 1 year old Westie had many mats all in the soft coat area.  I tried to hand strip for awhile and only could do about 1/2 hour at a time, she didn't care for it, and I got a bit out, but there was still so much to take out and the very top hard coat did not have mats.  But, all the soft coat had to get cut off yesterday, so that meant all the hair had to go up to near the skin where the matting stopped.  I had wanted to go the route of hand stipping, but if she is getting mats everywhere else in soft coat, I had to get rid of it.  It was so bad.  I own a pin brush, rake, hand stripping knife, scissors and bought a dematting tool today.  So, I used scissors and got almost all of it off and figured I would get near her butt and lower back with Clippers, and smooth out the rest of her back too.  I bought Wahl brand for $30 at Walmart (with a cord) and tried different attachments.  This did not even really take any hair off nor want to go through her matted areas.  I plan to take it back.  What kind of trimmers are the groomers using?  What is the difference? The attachments I have are 2, 3, 4.  I saw online people are using 10, 5 1/2.  I saw pictures on the web and the clippers all look about the same.  I've been trimming her face how it is supposed to look with scissors.

Answer
When shaving out matting you need to firt have pet clippers and then use a 10F blade.  A ten blade will get under the matting, attachment combs and longer blades just get caught up in the matting.  Myself and most groomers I know use Andis AGC 2 speed pet clippers.  They may be pricier than you want but they'll really work and last you forever, plus they come with a 10F blade.  I have never met a client that had the cheaper clippers work for them for more than a couple grooms. Andis is a good brand so their one speed clippers would more than likely work.  Let me know if you have anymore questions.