diff --git a/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/connection.py b/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/connection.py
index c2e70c5..7f8d1d8 100644
--- a/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/connection.py
+++ b/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/connection.py
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ def __init__(self, user_id, key, secure=True, host=None, port=None,
 
     def request(self, action, params=None, data=None, headers=None,
                 method='GET', raw=False):
+        if not headers:
+            headers = {}
+
         headers["Accept-Encoding"] = "plain"
+
         self.response = requests.request(
             method=method.lower(),
             url="".join([self.host, action]),
diff --git a/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/test_connection.py b/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/test_connection.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d8203a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver/test_connection.py
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+import unittest
+
+import requests_mock
+
+from libcloud_dnsimple_v2_driver.connection import LibCloudRequest
+
+
+@requests_mock.Mocker()
+class LibCloudRequestTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    connection = None
+    _test_url = "https://ifconfig.co/json"
+    _response_json = {"ip": "46.101.192.233", "ip_decimal": 778420457, "country": "Germany", "country_eu": True,
+                     "country_iso": "DE", "city": "Frankfurt am Main", "latitude": 50.1153, "longitude": 8.6823}
+    _response_text = '{"ip":"46.101.192.233","ip_decimal":778420457,"country":"Germany",' +\
+                     '"country_eu":true,"country_iso":"DE","city":"Frankfurt am Main",' +\
+                     '"latitude":50.1153,"longitude":8.6823}'
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.connection = LibCloudRequest("user", "key")
+        self.connection.host = "https://ifconfig.co"
+
+    def set_mock_requests(self, m):
+        m.get(self._test_url,
+              #json=self._response_json,
+              text=self._response_text,
+              status_code=200,
+              headers={
+                  "cf-ray": "4528d1ce3bff9ac4-FRA",
+                  "content-encoding": "br",
+                  "content-type": "application/json",
+                  "date": "Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:01:28 GMT",
+                  "expect-ct": "max-age=604800, report-uri=\"https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct\"",
+                  "server": "cloudflare",
+                  "status": "200",
+                  "via": "1.1 vegur",
+              })
+
+    def test_request(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        response = self.connection.request("/json")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response, self.connection)
+        self.assertEqual(response.object["ip"], "46.101.192.233")
+
+    def test_getresponse(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+        response = self.connection.getresponse()
+
+        self.assertEqual(response, self.connection)
+
+    def test_getheaders(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+        headers = self.connection.getheaders()
+
+        self.assertNotIn("content-encoding", headers.keys())
+
+    def test_status(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+
+        self.assertEqual(self.connection.status, 200)
+
+    def test_reason(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+
+        self.assertEqual(self.connection.reason, self._response_text)
+
+    def test_connect(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.assertEqual(self.connection.connect(), None)
+
+    def test_read(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+        data = self.connection.read()
+
+        self.assertEqual(data, self._response_text.encode("utf-8"))
+
+    def test_close(self, m):
+        self.set_mock_requests(m)
+        self.connection.request("/json")
+        self.connection.close()
\ No newline at end of file