diff --git a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
index c32f32058..4c64e30db 100644
--- a/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
+++ b/datadog/dogstatsd/base.py
@@ -505,11 +505,11 @@ def socket(self, new_socket):
         if new_socket:
             try:
                 self._socket_kind = new_socket.getsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_TYPE)
-                if self._socket_kind == socket.SOCK_STREAM:
-                    self._transport = "uds-stream"
-                    self._max_payload_size = self._max_buffer_len or UDS_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH
-                elif self._socket_kind == socket.SOCK_DGRAM:
-                    self._transport = "uds"
+                if new_socket.family == socket.AF_UNIX:
+                    if self._socket_kind == socket.SOCK_STREAM:
+                        self._transport = "uds-stream"
+                    else:
+                        self._transport = "uds"
                     self._max_payload_size = self._max_buffer_len or UDS_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH
                 else:
                     self._transport = "udp"
@@ -518,6 +518,8 @@ def socket(self, new_socket):
             except AttributeError:  # _socket can't have a type if it doesn't have sockopts
                 log.info("Unexpected socket provided with no support for getsockopt")
         self._socket_kind = None
+        # When the socket is None, we use the UDP optimal payload length
+        self._max_payload_size = UDP_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH
 
     @property
     def telemetry_socket(self):
diff --git a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
index c817ac087..a940a5058 100644
--- a/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
+++ b/tests/unit/dogstatsd/test_statsd.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class FakeSocket(object):
 
     FLUSH_GRACE_PERIOD = 0.2
 
-    def __init__(self, flush_interval=DEFAULT_BUFFERING_FLUSH_INTERVAL, socket_kind=socket.SOCK_DGRAM):
+    def __init__(self, flush_interval=DEFAULT_BUFFERING_FLUSH_INTERVAL, socket_kind=socket.SOCK_DGRAM, socket_path=None):
         self.payloads = deque()
 
         self._flush_interval = flush_interval
@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@ def __init__(self, flush_interval=DEFAULT_BUFFERING_FLUSH_INTERVAL, socket_kind=
         self._socket_kind = socket_kind
         self.timeout = () # unit tuple = settimeout was not called
 
+        if socket_path:
+            self.family = socket.AF_UNIX
+        else:
+            self.family = socket.AF_INET
+
     def sendall(self, payload):
         self.send(payload)
 
@@ -768,19 +773,19 @@ def test_udp_socket_ensures_min_receive_buffer(self, mock_socket_create):
             MIN_SEND_BUFFER_SIZE,
         )
 
-    def test_socket_path_updates_telemetry(self):
+    def test_socket_updates_telemetry(self):
         # Test UDP
         self.statsd.gauge("foo", 1)
         self.assert_equal_telemetry("foo:1|g\n", self.recv(2), transport="udp")
         
         # Test UDS
-        self.statsd.socket_path = "/fake/path"
+        self.statsd.socket = FakeSocket(socket_path="/fake/path")
         self.statsd._reset_telemetry()
         self.statsd.gauge("foo", 2)
         self.assert_equal_telemetry("foo:2|g\n", self.recv(2), transport="uds")
 
         # Test UDS stream
-        self.statsd.socket_path = "unixstream://fake/path"
+        self.statsd.socket = FakeSocket(socket_path="unixstream://fake/path", socket_kind=socket.SOCK_STREAM)
         self.statsd._reset_telemetry()
         self.statsd.gauge("foo", 2)
         self.assert_equal_telemetry("foo:2|g\n", self.recv(2), transport="uds-stream")
@@ -1904,7 +1909,7 @@ def test_default_max_uds_packet_size(self):
             flush_interval=10000,
             disable_telemetry=True,
         )
-        dogstatsd.socket = FakeSocket()
+        dogstatsd.socket = FakeSocket(socket_path=dogstatsd.socket_path)
 
         for _ in range(10000):
             dogstatsd.increment('val')
@@ -2110,7 +2115,13 @@ def test_telemetry_api(self):
     def test_max_payload_size(self):
         statsd = DogStatsd(socket_path=None, port=8125)
         self.assertEqual(statsd._max_payload_size, UDP_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH)
-        statsd.socket_path = "/foo"
+
+        test_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
+        statsd.socket = test_socket
+        self.assertEqual(statsd._max_payload_size, UDP_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH)
+
+        test_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
+        statsd.socket = test_socket
         self.assertEqual(statsd._max_payload_size, UDS_OPTIMAL_PAYLOAD_LENGTH)
 
     def test_post_fork_locks(self):