[Still Thinking]

So now there is a legal duty to maintain your vehicle free of all hazards to dogs just in case someday the cops get a whim to violate your civil rights during a stop?

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

There’s a big difference between accidental hazards (with which police deal every day and understand it to be an occupational hazard) and purposely setting something in place to cause harm to a dog/officer. Also, if you do so to throw off a dog’s scent, that can be classified as obstruction/interfering with an investigation, a separate crime altogether.

Read my earlier posts. I’m totally against unlawful searches, but sprinkling pepper in your car deliberately to jam a dog’s sense of smell, if it can be proven to have been deliberate, is a crime. If they find contraband in your car, don’t expect much leniency or anyone to believe it was accidental.