Thanks for the kind thoughts and suggestions. Yes, he has been to the Regional Veterinary Referral Center in Springfield, and I do like the care they provide in general. But they referred us to another place, as the surgeons looked at him and didn't have much to say other than to keep him off the hardwood as much as possible.
So we took him here as referred:
THE SPINE CENTER AT VOSM | NEUROLOGY*|*VOSM
This place is like the Cleveland or Mayo Clinic for dogs. They have a few very good vets who can consult and test/diagnose in one stop, which is good because its in the middle of nowhere for us northern VA folks.
He got a full set of X rays and they thought he might have a herniated spinal chord based on the look of the spine, and because his back legs worked better than his front. He did not react 100 percent as he should have to the testing the Dr. did by repositioning his legs. So they thought it was neurological. He went back for a very expensive MRI the next week (just last week from this post).
That didn't show anything unusual in his brain or upper spine, and they did take a spinal tap and we don't have the results of that yet. But they put him on steroids (prednisone) and he had pain meds already from the referral center.
In the week since he went back, he seems to be deteriorating further, with respect to his ability to walk. Its very sad to see and hard to deal with, but we have to carry him to the pee pad and water and food. He has not much quality of life it seems. Some days are better than others, but a dog HAS to be able to get around, and he is having more and more trouble doing that. We have yoga mats all around that do help him move around, but his mobility is really bad now. I tried to walk him today outside since it was so nice, and he was able to pee and poop but I carried him almost the whole time.