diff --git a/txredis/protocol.py b/txredis/protocol.py
index d31fb8a..e7aeb04 100644
--- a/txredis/protocol.py
+++ b/txredis/protocol.py
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class RedisBase(protocol.Protocol, policies.TimeoutMixin, object):
 
     def __init__(self, db=None, password=None, charset='utf8', errors='strict'):
         self.charset = charset
-        self.db = db
+        self.db = db if db is not None else 0
         self.password = password
         self.errors = errors
         self._buffer = ''
@@ -193,9 +193,22 @@ def failRequests(self, reason):
 
     def connectionMade(self):
         """ Called when incoming connections is made to the server. """
-        self._disconnected = False
+        d = defer.succeed(True)
+
+        # if we have a password set, make sure we auth
         if self.password:
-            return self.auth(self.password)
+            d.addCallback(lambda _res : self.auth(self.password))
+
+        # select the db passsed in
+        if self.db:
+            d.addCallback(lambda _res : self.select(self.db))
+
+        def done_connecting(_res):
+            # set our state as soon as we're properly connected
+            self._disconnected = False
+        d.addCallback(done_connecting)
+
+        return d
 
     def connectionLost(self, reason):
         """Called when the connection is lost.