diff --git a/docker/api/client.py b/docker/api/client.py
index 499a7c785..0fbcb93a9 100644
--- a/docker/api/client.py
+++ b/docker/api/client.py
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ def _stream_helper(self, response, decode=False):
             if decode:
                 yield from json_stream(self._stream_helper(response, False))
             else:
+                self._raise_for_status(response)
                 reader = response.raw
                 while not reader.closed:
                     # this read call will block until we get a chunk