diff --git a/gerritlib/gerrit.py b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
index 9a38ed9..63d008a 100644
--- a/gerritlib/gerrit.py
+++ b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
@@ -23,8 +23,15 @@ import time
 
 import paramiko
 
+CONNECTED = 'connected'
+CONNECTING = 'connecting'
+CONSUMING = 'consuming'
+DEAD = 'dead'
+DISCONNECTED = 'disconnected'
+IDLE = 'idle'
 
-class GerritWatcher(object):
+
+class GerritWatcher(threading.Thread):
     log = logging.getLogger("gerrit.GerritWatcher")
 
     def __init__(
@@ -37,6 +44,7 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
         All other parameters are optional and if not supplied are sourced from
         the gerrit instance.
         """
+        super(GerritWatcher, self).__init__()
         assert retry_delay >= 0, "Retry delay must be >= 0"
         self.username = username or gerrit.username
         self.keyfile = keyfile or gerrit.keyfile
@@ -45,7 +53,7 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
         self.gerrit = gerrit
         self.connection_attempts = int(connection_attempts)
         self.retry_delay = float(retry_delay)
-        self.connected = False
+        self.state = IDLE
 
     def _read(self, fd):
         l = fd.readline()
@@ -122,6 +130,7 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
         """Consumes events using the given client."""
         stdin, stdout, stderr = client.exec_command("gerrit stream-events")
 
+        self.state = CONSUMING
         self._listen(stdout, stderr)
 
         ret = stdout.channel.recv_exit_status()
@@ -132,9 +141,9 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
                             " return code %s" % ret)
 
     def _run(self):
-        self.connected = False
+        self.state = CONNECTING
         client = self._connect()
-        self.connected = True
+        self.state = CONNECTED
         try:
             self._consume(client)
         except Exception:
@@ -145,14 +154,19 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
                     client.close()
                 except (IOError, paramiko.SSHException):
                     self.log.exception("Failure closing broken client")
+            self.state = DISCONNECTED
             if self.retry_delay > 0:
                 self.log.info("Delaying consumption retry for %s seconds",
                               self.retry_delay)
                 time.sleep(self.retry_delay)
 
     def run(self):
-        while True:
-            self._run()
+        try:
+            while True:
+                self.state = DISCONNECTED
+                self._run()
+        finally:
+            self.state = DEAD
 
 
 class Gerrit(object):
@@ -171,7 +185,7 @@ class Gerrit(object):
         watcher = GerritWatcher(self,
                                 connection_attempts=connection_attempts,
                                 retry_delay=retry_delay)
-        self.watcher_thread = threading.Thread(target=watcher.run)
+        self.watcher_thread = watcher
         self.watcher_thread.daemon = True
         self.watcher_thread.start()