diff --git a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
index 1bdb47f5d..5c7c946eb 100644
--- a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
+++ b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
@@ -1026,6 +1026,8 @@ def service_check(
         self._send(string)
 
     def _add_constant_tags(self, tags):
+        if isinstance(tags, dict):
+            tags = list(map(lambda kv: '%s:%s' % kv, tags.items()))
         if self.constant_tags:
             if tags:
                 return tags + self.constant_tags
diff --git a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
index 658804a19..2820b2660 100644
--- a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
+++ b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
@@ -334,6 +334,10 @@ def test_tagged_histogram(self):
         self.statsd.histogram('h', 1, tags=['red'])
         self.assert_equal_telemetry('h:1|h|#red\n', self.recv(2))
 
+    def test_dict_tagged(self):
+        self.statsd.increment('dct', tags={'country': 'españa'})
+        self.assert_equal_telemetry('dct:1|c|#country:españa\n', self.recv(2))
+
     def test_sample_rate(self):
         # Disabling telemetry since sample_rate imply randomness
         self.statsd._telemetry = False