diff --git a/pandas/core/common.py b/pandas/core/common.py
index 22fad2aed4e25..4231e9101e1ec 100644
--- a/pandas/core/common.py
+++ b/pandas/core/common.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import pandas.tslib as tslib
 
 from pandas.util import py3compat
+from pandas.util import compat
 import codecs
 import csv
 
@@ -763,7 +764,7 @@ def changeit():
             # our type is wrong here, need to upcast
             r, fill_value = _maybe_upcast(result, fill_value=other, dtype=dtype, copy=True)
             np.putmask(r, mask, other)
-                
+
             # we need to actually change the dtype here
             if change is not None:
                 change.dtype = r.dtype
@@ -778,7 +779,7 @@ def changeit():
         new_dtype, fill_value = _maybe_promote(result.dtype,other)
         if new_dtype != result.dtype:
 
-            # we have a scalar or len 0 ndarray 
+            # we have a scalar or len 0 ndarray
             # and its nan and we are changing some values
             if np.isscalar(other) or (isinstance(other,np.ndarray) and other.ndim < 1):
                 if isnull(other):
@@ -1471,9 +1472,31 @@ def is_list_like(arg):
 
 def _is_sequence(x):
     try:
-        iter(x)
+        if  isinstance(x, basestring):
+            return False
+        iter(x) # it's iterable
         len(x) # it has a length
-        return not isinstance(x, basestring) and True
+
+        return True
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+
+def _is_pprint_sequence(x):
+    try:
+        if  isinstance(x, basestring):
+            return False
+
+        # proper subclass of stdlib dicts, let them format themselves
+        if (isinstance(x, dict) and
+            (not type(x) == dict) and
+            (not type(x) == compat.OrderedDict)):
+            return False
+
+        iter(x) # it's iterable
+        len(x) # it has a length
+
+        return True
+
     except Exception:
         return False
 
@@ -1818,9 +1841,16 @@ def _pprint_dict(seq, _nest_lvl=0):
     pairs = []
 
     pfmt = u"%s: %s"
-    for k, v in seq.items():
-        pairs.append(pfmt % (repr(k), repr(v)))
-    return fmt % ", ".join(pairs)
+
+    nitems = get_option("max_seq_items") or len(seq)
+
+    for k, v in seq.items()[:nitems]:
+        pairs.append(pfmt % (pprint_thing(k,_nest_lvl+1), pprint_thing(v,_nest_lvl+1)))
+
+    if nitems < len(seq):
+        return fmt % (", ".join(pairs) + ", ...")
+    else:
+        return fmt % ", ".join(pairs)
 
 
 def pprint_thing(thing, _nest_lvl=0, escape_chars=None, default_escapes=False):
@@ -1849,15 +1879,17 @@ def pprint_thing(thing, _nest_lvl=0, escape_chars=None, default_escapes=False):
 
     """
 
+
     if thing is None:
         result = ''
     elif (py3compat.PY3 and hasattr(thing, '__next__')) or \
             hasattr(thing, 'next'):
         return unicode(thing)
-    elif (isinstance(thing, dict) and
+    elif ((type(thing) == dict) or
+          (type(thing) == compat.OrderedDict) and
           _nest_lvl < get_option("display.pprint_nest_depth")):
         result = _pprint_dict(thing, _nest_lvl)
-    elif _is_sequence(thing) and _nest_lvl < \
+    elif _is_pprint_sequence(thing) and _nest_lvl < \
             get_option("display.pprint_nest_depth"):
         result = _pprint_seq(thing, _nest_lvl, escape_chars=escape_chars)
     else:
@@ -1876,7 +1908,7 @@ def pprint_thing(thing, _nest_lvl=0, escape_chars=None, default_escapes=False):
             result = str(thing).decode('utf-8', "replace")
 
         translate = {'\t': r'\t',
-                     '\n': r'\n',
+                    '\n': r'\n',
                      '\r': r'\r',
                      }
         if isinstance(escape_chars, dict):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_common.py b/pandas/tests/test_common.py
index 89f6859a39bb0..5d4b24ad7359f 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_common.py
@@ -290,6 +290,8 @@ def test_ensure_platform_int():
 
 
 def test_pprint_thing():
+    from pandas.util.compat import OrderedDict
+
     if py3compat.PY3:
         raise nose.SkipTest
 
@@ -309,6 +311,20 @@ def test_pprint_thing():
     # GH #2038
     assert not "\t" in pp_t("a\tb", escape_chars=("\t",))
 
+    assert  u'{a: 1}' ==  pp_t(dict(a=1))
+    assert  u'{a: 1}' ==  pp_t(OrderedDict(a=1))
+
+    # allow proper subclasses of dict/OrderedDict to format themselves
+    class SubDict(dict):
+        def __unicode__(self):
+            return "kagles"
+
+    class SubODict(OrderedDict):
+        def __unicode__(self):
+            return "kagles"
+
+    assert  u'kagles' ==  pp_t(SubDict())
+    assert  u'kagles' ==  pp_t(SubODict())
 
 class TestTake(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -684,7 +700,7 @@ def test_2d_float32(self):
         expected = arr.take(indexer, axis=1)
         expected[:, [2, 4]] = np.nan
         tm.assert_almost_equal(result, expected)
-    
+
     def test_2d_datetime64(self):
         # 2005/01/01 - 2006/01/01
         arr = np.random.randint(11045376L, 11360736L, (5,3))*100000000000
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_format.py b/pandas/tests/test_format.py
index 0ae8934c898b0..f058333ace294 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_format.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_format.py
@@ -1192,8 +1192,9 @@ def test_dict_entries(self):
         df = DataFrame({'A': [{'a': 1, 'b': 2}]})
 
         val = df.to_string()
-        self.assertTrue("'a': 1" in val)
-        self.assertTrue("'b': 2" in val)
+        # to be fixed ot 'a': 1 when #3038 comes to town
+        self.assertTrue("a: 1" in val)
+        self.assertTrue("b: 2" in val)
 
     def test_to_latex(self):
         # it works!