[dirtboy]

If a drug dog happens to be there, and it alerts on a vehicle going thru a checkpoint, then yes - there may well be enough probable cause for a search. The threshold for searching a vehicle is low.

Wrong. The dog itself is a search method. Probable cause to use the dog should come from elsewhere.

[Mr Rogers]

A dog is not a method.

Bottom line: the courts disagree with you. The Supreme Court disagrees 9-0. It isn’t close.

Besides:

“Officer Wheetley pulled over respondent Harris for a routine traffic stop. Observing Harris’s nervousness and an open beer can...”

“It is unlawful and punishable as provided in this section for any person to possess an open container of an alcoholic beverage or consume an alcoholic beverage while operating a vehicle in the state or while a passenger in or on a vehicle being operated in the state.”

http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/316.1936