diff --git a/sys/net/application_layer/sock_dns/dns.c b/sys/net/application_layer/sock_dns/dns.c
index 7ad4898040..b1c048bb44 100644
--- a/sys/net/application_layer/sock_dns/dns.c
+++ b/sys/net/application_layer/sock_dns/dns.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include <arpa/inet.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 #include "net/dns.h"
 #include "net/dns/cache.h"
@@ -27,6 +28,9 @@
 #include "net/sock/udp.h"
 #include "net/sock/dns.h"
 
+#define ENABLE_DEBUG 0
+#include "debug.h"
+
 /* min domain name length is 1, so minimum record length is 7 */
 #define DNS_MIN_REPLY_LEN   (unsigned)(sizeof(dns_hdr_t) + 7)
 
@@ -87,7 +91,7 @@ int sock_dns_query(const char *domain_name, void *addr_out, int family)
 
     res = sock_udp_create(&sock_dns, NULL, &sock_dns_server, 0);
     if (res) {
-        goto out;
+        return res;
     }
 
     uint16_t id = 0;
@@ -96,25 +100,30 @@ int sock_dns_query(const char *domain_name, void *addr_out, int family)
 
         res = sock_udp_send(&sock_dns, dns_buf, buflen, NULL);
         if (res <= 0) {
+            DEBUG("sock_dns: can't send: %s\n", strerror(-res));
             continue;
         }
         res = sock_udp_recv(&sock_dns, dns_buf, sizeof(dns_buf), 1000000LU, NULL);
-        if (res > 0) {
-            if (res > (int)DNS_MIN_REPLY_LEN) {
-                uint32_t ttl;
-                if ((res = dns_msg_parse_reply(dns_buf, res, family,
-                                               addr_out, &ttl)) > 0) {
-                    dns_cache_add(domain_name, addr_out, res, ttl);
-                    goto out;
-                }
-            }
-            else {
-                res = -EBADMSG;
-            }
+        if (res < 0) {
+            DEBUG("sock_dns: can't receive: %s\n", strerror(-res));
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (res < (int)DNS_MIN_REPLY_LEN) {
+            DEBUG("sock_dns: reply too small (%d byte)\n", (int)res);
+            res = -EBADMSG;
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        uint32_t ttl;
+        if ((res = dns_msg_parse_reply(dns_buf, res, family,
+                                       addr_out, &ttl)) > 0) {
+            dns_cache_add(domain_name, addr_out, res, ttl);
+            break;
+        } else {
+            DEBUG("sock_dns: can't parse response\n");
         }
     }
 
-out:
     sock_udp_close(&sock_dns);
     return res;
 }