diff --git a/docker/utils/utils.py b/docker/utils/utils.py
index fb05a1ea..cab44a41 100644
--- a/docker/utils/utils.py
+++ b/docker/utils/utils.py
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ def tar(path, exclude=None):
         for name in fnames:
             arcname = os.path.join(relpath, name)
             t.add(os.path.join(path, arcname), arcname=arcname)
+        for name in dirnames:
+            arcname = os.path.join(relpath, name)
+            t.add(os.path.join(path, arcname), arcname=arcname, recursive=False)
     t.close()
     f.seek(0)
     return f
diff --git a/tests/integration_test.py b/tests/integration_test.py
index d4900b7f..6d77b1d8 100644
--- a/tests/integration_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration_test.py
@@ -882,6 +882,43 @@ class TestBuildWithDockerignore(Cleanup, BaseTestCase):
         self.assertFalse('node_modules' in logs)
         self.assertTrue('not-ignored' in logs)
 
+class TestBuildWithSymlinks(Cleanup, BaseTestCase):
+    def runTest(self):
+        if self.client._version < 1.8:
+            return
+
+        base_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, base_dir)
+
+        with open(os.path.join(base_dir, 'Dockerfile'), 'w') as f:
+            f.write("\n".join([
+                'FROM busybox',
+                'MAINTAINER docker-py',
+                'ADD . /test',
+                'RUN ls -A /test',
+            ]))
+
+        with open(os.path.join(base_dir, '.dockerignore'), 'w') as f:
+            f.write("\n".join([
+                'node_modules',
+                '',  # empty line
+            ]))
+
+        with open(os.path.join(base_dir, 'not-ignored'), 'w') as f:
+            f.write("this file should not be ignored")
+
+        subdir = os.path.join(base_dir, 'node_modules', 'grunt-cli')
+        os.makedirs(subdir)
+        with open(os.path.join(subdir, 'grunt'), 'w') as f:
+            f.write("grunt")
+
+        stream = self.client.build(path=base_dir, stream=True)
+        logs = ''
+        for chunk in stream:
+            logs += chunk
+        self.assertFalse('node_modules' in logs)
+        self.assertTrue('not-ignoredx' in logs)
+
 #######################
 #  PY SPECIFIC TESTS  #
 #######################
diff --git a/tests/test.py b/tests/test.py
index 984e350e..e02c487f 100644
--- a/tests/test.py
+++ b/tests/test.py
@@ -1615,16 +1615,47 @@ class DockerClientTest(Cleanup, unittest.TestCase):
                     f.write("content")
 
         for exclude, names in (
-                (['*.py'], ['bar/a.txt', 'bar/other.png',
-                            'test/foo/a.txt', 'test/foo/other.png']),
-                (['*.png', 'bar'], ['test/foo/a.txt', 'test/foo/b.py']),
-                (['test/foo', 'a.txt'], ['bar/a.txt', 'bar/b.py',
-                                         'bar/other.png']),
+                (['*.py'], ['bar', 'bar/a.txt', 'bar/other.png',
+                            'test', 'test/foo', 'test/foo/a.txt',
+                            'test/foo/other.png']),
+                (['*.png', 'bar'], ['test', 'test/foo', 'test/foo/a.txt',
+                                    'test/foo/b.py']),
+                (['test/foo', 'a.txt'], ['bar', 'bar/a.txt', 'bar/b.py',
+                                         'bar/other.png', 'test']),
         ):
             archive = docker.utils.tar(base, exclude=exclude)
             tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=archive)
             self.assertEqual(sorted(tar.getnames()), names)
 
+    def test_tar_with_empty_directory(self):
+        base = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, base)
+        for d in ['foo', 'bar']:
+            os.makedirs(os.path.join(base, d))
+        archive = docker.utils.tar(base)
+        tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=archive)
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(tar.getnames()), ['bar', 'foo'])
+
+    def test_tar_with_file_symlinks(self):
+        base = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, base)
+        with open(os.path.join(base, 'foo'), 'w') as f:
+            f.write("content")
+        os.makedirs(os.path.join(base, 'bar'))
+        os.symlink('../foo', os.path.join(base, 'bar/foo'))
+        archive = docker.utils.tar(base)
+        tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=archive)
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(tar.getnames()), ['bar', 'bar/foo', 'foo'])
+
+    def test_tar_with_directory_symlinks(self):
+        base = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, base)
+        for d in ['foo', 'bar']:
+            os.makedirs(os.path.join(base, d))
+        os.symlink('../foo', os.path.join(base, 'bar/foo'))
+        archive = docker.utils.tar(base)
+        tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=archive)
+        self.assertEqual(sorted(tar.getnames()), ['bar', 'bar/foo', 'foo'])
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()