diff --git a/outputs/datadog/datadog.go b/outputs/datadog/datadog.go
index 1476637dd..7b87a43e1 100644
--- a/outputs/datadog/datadog.go
+++ b/outputs/datadog/datadog.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/influxdb/influxdb/client/v2"
 	"github.com/influxdb/telegraf/duration"
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ type TimeSeries struct {
 type Metric struct {
 	Metric string   `json:"metric"`
 	Points [1]Point `json:"points"`
+	Host   string   `json:"host"`
 	Tags   []string `json:"tags,omitempty"`
 }
 
@@ -68,8 +70,9 @@ func (d *Datadog) Write(points []*client.Point) error {
 	}
 	for index, pt := range points {
 		metric := &Metric{
-			Metric: pt.Name(),
+			Metric: strings.Replace(pt.Name(), "_", ".", -1),
 			Tags:   buildTags(pt.Tags()),
+			Host:   pt.Tags()["host"],
 		}
 		if p, err := buildPoint(pt); err == nil {
 			metric.Points[0] = p
@@ -87,10 +90,10 @@ func (d *Datadog) Write(points []*client.Point) error {
 	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	resp, err := d.client.Do(req)
-	defer resp.Body.Close()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error POSTing metrics, %s\n", err.Error())
 	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
 	if resp.StatusCode < 200 || resp.StatusCode > 209 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("received bad status code, %d\n", resp.StatusCode)