You can never have enough obedience. I would sign up for the agility classes that are in the fall, as soon as possible. Our classes that we offer tend to be full up to 2-3 months in advance. I would suggest to take a couple obedience classes, not just for the obedience, but also for the bonding experience. The dog will learn to work with you during distractions and not focus on other dogs or people. Another suggestion is that if you have a rally-o class in your area, I would do some reserch and may consider that. I show in both agility and rally, I love them both. I have build different types of bonds with my dogs by training and showing in both.

Looking for a instructor is kind of tricky. We have 4instructors in my area. I would recommend 3 out of the 4 instructors. (All of the instructors are friends of mine, though) What I look for in a teacher is somone who has had years of expeirence, not just with one dog. I look for someone who has entered trials and there dogs are in excellent/elite levels. I'm in the advanced class so my expectations for a training are higher now. I want my instructor to go to agility seminars so I can keep getting new information, I want him to have at least a MACH on one of his dogs, I would keep going but then I would end up writing a book. Good luck, agility is a lot of fun!