diff --git a/bin/swift-dispersion-report b/bin/swift-dispersion-report
index e81cb2b86b..31a1741dda 100755
--- a/bin/swift-dispersion-report
+++ b/bin/swift-dispersion-report
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from eventlet import GreenPool, hubs, patcher, Timeout
 from eventlet.pools import Pool
+from eventlet.green import urllib2
 
 from swift.common import direct_client
 try:
@@ -176,9 +177,10 @@ def object_dispersion_report(coropool, connpool, account, object_ring,
         try:
             objects = [o['name'] for o in conn.get_container(
                 container, prefix='dispersion_', full_listing=True)[1]]
-        except ClientException as err:
-            if err.http_status != 404:
-                raise
+        except urllib2.HTTPError as err:
+            if err.getcode() != 404:
+                raise err
+
             print >>stderr, 'No objects to query. Has ' \
                             'swift-dispersion-populate been run?'
             stderr.flush()
diff --git a/test/unit/common/test_internal_client.py b/test/unit/common/test_internal_client.py
index 9fed678faf..3c817fbc9b 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/test_internal_client.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/test_internal_client.py
@@ -1264,6 +1264,61 @@ class TestSimpleClient(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(mock_urlopen.call_count, 2)
         self.assertEqual([None, None], retval)
 
+    @mock.patch('eventlet.green.urllib2.urlopen')
+    def test_request_with_retries_with_HTTPError(self, mock_urlopen):
+        mock_response = mock.MagicMock()
+        mock_response.read.return_value = ''
+        c = internal_client.SimpleClient(url='http://127.0.0.1', token='token')
+        self.assertEqual(c.retries, 5)
+
+        for request_method in 'GET PUT POST DELETE HEAD COPY'.split():
+            mock_urlopen.reset_mock()
+            mock_urlopen.side_effect = urllib2.HTTPError(*[None] * 5)
+            with mock.patch('swift.common.internal_client.sleep') \
+                    as mock_sleep:
+                self.assertRaises(urllib2.HTTPError,
+                                  c.retry_request, request_method, retries=1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_sleep.call_count, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_urlopen.call_count, 2)
+
+    @mock.patch('eventlet.green.urllib2.urlopen')
+    def test_request_container_with_retries_with_HTTPError(self,
+                                                           mock_urlopen):
+        mock_response = mock.MagicMock()
+        mock_response.read.return_value = ''
+        c = internal_client.SimpleClient(url='http://127.0.0.1', token='token')
+        self.assertEqual(c.retries, 5)
+
+        for request_method in 'GET PUT POST DELETE HEAD COPY'.split():
+            mock_urlopen.reset_mock()
+            mock_urlopen.side_effect = urllib2.HTTPError(*[None] * 5)
+            with mock.patch('swift.common.internal_client.sleep') \
+                    as mock_sleep:
+                self.assertRaises(urllib2.HTTPError,
+                                  c.retry_request, request_method,
+                                  container='con', retries=1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_sleep.call_count, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_urlopen.call_count, 2)
+
+    @mock.patch('eventlet.green.urllib2.urlopen')
+    def test_request_object_with_retries_with_HTTPError(self,
+                                                        mock_urlopen):
+        mock_response = mock.MagicMock()
+        mock_response.read.return_value = ''
+        c = internal_client.SimpleClient(url='http://127.0.0.1', token='token')
+        self.assertEqual(c.retries, 5)
+
+        for request_method in 'GET PUT POST DELETE HEAD COPY'.split():
+            mock_urlopen.reset_mock()
+            mock_urlopen.side_effect = urllib2.HTTPError(*[None] * 5)
+            with mock.patch('swift.common.internal_client.sleep') \
+                    as mock_sleep:
+                self.assertRaises(urllib2.HTTPError,
+                                  c.retry_request, request_method,
+                                  container='con', name='obj', retries=1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_sleep.call_count, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(mock_urlopen.call_count, 2)
+
     def test_proxy(self):
         # check that proxy arg is passed through to the urllib Request
         scheme = 'http'