diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 0e32376..57116e9 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -79,10 +79,10 @@ var (
 // ReaderFunc is the type of function that can be given natively to NewRequest
 type ReaderFunc func() (io.Reader, error)
 
-// ResponseHandlingFunc is a type of function that takes in a Response, and does something with it.
+// ResponseHandlerFunc is a type of function that takes in a Response, and does something with it.
 // It only runs if the initial part of the request was successful.
 // If an error is returned, the client's retry policy will be used to determine whether to retry the whole request.
-type ResponseHandlingFunc func(*http.Response) error
+type ResponseHandlerFunc func(*http.Response) error
 
 // LenReader is an interface implemented by many in-memory io.Reader's. Used
 // for automatically sending the right Content-Length header when possible.
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ type Request struct {
 	// used to rewind the request data in between retries.
 	body ReaderFunc
 
-	responseHandler ResponseHandlingFunc
+	responseHandler ResponseHandlerFunc
 
 	// Embed an HTTP request directly. This makes a *Request act exactly
 	// like an *http.Request so that all meta methods are supported.
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func (r *Request) WithContext(ctx context.Context) *Request {
 }
 
 // SetResponseHandler allows setting the response handler.
-func (r *Request) SetResponseHandler(fn ResponseHandlingFunc) {
+func (r *Request) SetResponseHandler(fn ResponseHandlerFunc) {
 	r.responseHandler = fn
 }
 
@@ -589,6 +589,7 @@ func (c *Client) Do(req *Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	var doErr, respErr, checkErr error
 
 	for i := 0; ; i++ {
+		doErr, respErr = nil, nil
 		attempt++
 
 		// Always rewind the request body when non-nil.
@@ -619,12 +620,23 @@ func (c *Client) Do(req *Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 		// Attempt the request
 		resp, doErr = c.HTTPClient.Do(req.Request)
 
-		if doErr != nil {
+		// Check if we should continue with retries.
+		shouldRetry, checkErr = c.CheckRetry(req.Context(), resp, doErr)
+		if !shouldRetry && doErr == nil && req.responseHandler != nil {
+			respErr = req.responseHandler(resp)
+			shouldRetry, checkErr = c.CheckRetry(req.Context(), resp, respErr)
+		}
+
+		err := doErr
+		if respErr != nil {
+			err = respErr
+		}
+		if err != nil {
 			switch v := logger.(type) {
 			case LeveledLogger:
-				v.Error("request failed", "error", doErr, "method", req.Method, "url", req.URL)
+				v.Error("request failed", "error", err, "method", req.Method, "url", req.URL)
 			case Logger:
-				v.Printf("[ERR] %s %s request failed: %v", req.Method, req.URL, doErr)
+				v.Printf("[ERR] %s %s request failed: %v", req.Method, req.URL, err)
 			}
 		} else {
 			// Call this here to maintain the behavior of logging all requests,
@@ -642,13 +654,6 @@ func (c *Client) Do(req *Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		// Check if we should continue with retries.
-		shouldRetry, checkErr = c.CheckRetry(req.Context(), resp, doErr)
-		if !shouldRetry && doErr == nil && req.responseHandler != nil {
-			respErr = req.responseHandler(resp)
-			shouldRetry, checkErr = c.CheckRetry(req.Context(), resp, respErr)
-		}
-
 		if !shouldRetry {
 			break
 		}
diff --git a/client_test.go b/client_test.go
index 470e6e5..b3f8e6d 100644
--- a/client_test.go
+++ b/client_test.go
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ func TestClient_Do_WithResponseHandler(t *testing.T) {
 	var shouldSucceed bool
 	tests := []struct {
 		name           string
-		handler        ResponseHandlingFunc
+		handler        ResponseHandlerFunc
 		expectedChecks int // often 2x number of attempts since we check twice
 		err            string
 	}{