diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0562182..9715549 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 )
 
 setup(name='ss_instrumentation',
-      version='1.1.0',
+      version='1.2.0',
       description='',
       url='https://github.com/styleseat/ss-instrumentation',
       author='Some Dude at StyleSeat',
diff --git a/src/ss_instrumentation/SSInstrumentation.py b/src/ss_instrumentation/SSInstrumentation.py
index f47df06..87e8b8b 100644
--- a/src/ss_instrumentation/SSInstrumentation.py
+++ b/src/ss_instrumentation/SSInstrumentation.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 
 import boto3
+from botocore.client import Config
 
 
 def batch(iterable, n=1):
@@ -111,7 +112,12 @@ class SSInstrumentation(object):
 
     def __init__(self, config, storage=None):
         self.namespace = config['AWS_METRIC_NAMESPACE']
-        self.client = boto3.client('cloudwatch', region_name=config['AWS_LOGGING_REGION'])
+        self.client = boto3.client('cloudwatch', Config(
+            connect_timeout=3,
+            read_timeout=3,
+            retries={'max_attempts': 0},
+            region_name=config['AWS_LOGGING_REGION']
+        ))
 
         if storage:
             self._storage = storage
@@ -135,7 +141,11 @@ def put_metric(self, metric_name, value, **kwargs):
         return self.put_metrics([data])
 
     def put_metrics(self, metrics):
-        """Store multiple metrics in CloudWatch"""
+        """
+        Store multiple metrics in CloudWatch. May fail in various ways, returns
+        True on success but in most contexts you won't want to retry or even
+        bother to check the return value.
+        """
         metrics_data = []
         for metric in metrics:
             metric_data = {
@@ -152,10 +162,14 @@ def put_metrics(self, metrics):
 
             metrics_data.append(metric_data)
 
-        self.client.put_metric_data(
-            Namespace=self.namespace,
-            MetricData=metrics_data
-        )
+        try:
+            self.client.put_metric_data(
+                Namespace=self.namespace,
+                MetricData=metrics_data
+            )
+            return True
+        except Exception:
+            return False
 
     def flush_meters(self):
         values = self._storage.pop_values_for_period()
diff --git a/test/SSInstrumentation.py b/test/SSInstrumentation.py
index dadf774..d0aa12d 100644
--- a/test/SSInstrumentation.py
+++ b/test/SSInstrumentation.py
@@ -52,7 +52,12 @@ def assert_metric_present(self, actual_metrics, expected_metric):
     @mock.patch('boto3.client')
     def test_client_config(self, mock_client_constructor):
         self.create_instr()
-        mock_client_constructor.assert_called_with('cloudwatch', region_name='us-west-2')
+        client_name, config = mock_client_constructor.call_args.args
+        assert client_name == 'cloudwatch'
+        assert config.connect_timeout == 3
+        assert config.read_timeout == 3
+        assert config.retries['max_attempts'] == 0
+        assert config.region_name == 'us-west-2'
 
     @standard_mock
     def test_put_metric(self, mock_client):