Showing Females in Heat at Performance Trials - Does Your Club Allow?

The Australian Shepherd Club of America allows females in season to compete in all the performance trials, and it's quite common in AKC shows as a whole to have females in heat in the conformation ring. The various Schutzhund clubs also allow females in heat to compete, though from what I've observed they are not as focused as they would ordinarily be. The philosphy is that a dog should be obedient no matter what the distraction, even females. We proof our obedience competitors for the scent discrimination exercise by wiping down one or two articles with the scent of a female in season. In a show like the one at Reliant Center in Houston (formerly Astrohall), there may be hundreds of females in all stages of heat, and males must be trained to behave themselves. We do give each other plenty of space, though. We don't bring our male dogs nose to nose and expect them to get along. Fights are very rare at shows for that reason.