Here in WNC, we don't lock our homes or our cars. We can leave $700 in cash, a digital camera, and a handgun on the front seat while we go in to the post office and nobody will take it (I have really done that).
When somebody dies, 1000 people turn out for the funeral - in a small town. When a funeral procession goes by, the cars on the opposite side of the road pull over and stop out of respect.
If your car breaks down or you have a flat, you won't have to wait more than five minutes before somebody will stop and help you.
And best of all, we can shoot game and pee off our back decks (not simultaneously, usually).
All joking aside, the ruling had a lot to do with what is called "plain view" search. The molecules and atoms that the dog can smell are in 'plain view' to the dog. This ruling had to go this way or the chemical sniffers that the US Gov antiterrorist folks are implementing across the US would also be inadmissable in court against the bad dudes with large or small explosive devices and radiological weapons.
That's why the Conservative majority went this way. They are protecting our collective right of self defense against attackers.
If a dog alerts on your vehicle and it is searched, contraband MUST be found for any arrest to be made. Drug dust on money is insuffient as it does not represent a measurable amount for an arrest to be made.
I do agree that rights are historically lost when we need to become 'safer'... and this may represent such a loss.