diff --git a/middleware/etcd/README.md b/middleware/etcd/README.md
index b932dc265..c95855ef0 100644
--- a/middleware/etcd/README.md
+++ b/middleware/etcd/README.md
@@ -113,18 +113,20 @@ process in the response. The general form looks like this:
 
     skydns.test.skydns.dom.a.	300	CH	TXT	"127.0.0.1:0(10,0,,false)[0,]"
 
-  This shows the complete key as the owername, the rdata of the TXT record has:
-  `host:port(priority,weight,txt content,mail)[targetstrip,group]`.
+This shows the complete key as the owername, the rdata of the TXT record has:
+`host:port(priority,weight,txt content,mail)[targetstrip,group]`.
 
-  Any errors seen doing parsing will show up like this:
+Errors when communicating with an upstream will be returned as: `host:0(0,0,error message,false)[0,]`.
+
+An example:
+
+    www.example.org.	0	CH	TXT	"www.example.org.:0(0,0, IN A: unreachable backend,false)[0,]"
+
+Signalling that an A record for www.example.org. was sought, but it failed with that error.
+
+Any errors seen doing parsing will show up like this:
 
     . 0 CH TXT "/skydns/local/skydns/r/a: invalid character '.' after object key:value pair"
 
-  which shows `a.r.skydns.local.` has a json encoding problem.
+which shows `a.r.skydns.local.` has a json encoding problem.
 
-  Errors when communicating with an upstream will be returned as:
-
-    . 0 CH TXT "example.org. IN A: unreachable backend"
-
-  Signalling that an A record for example.org. was sought, but it failed
-  with that error.
diff --git a/middleware/etcd/etcd.go b/middleware/etcd/etcd.go
index 63aae2967..54346225b 100644
--- a/middleware/etcd/etcd.go
+++ b/middleware/etcd/etcd.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ type Etcd struct {
 	Client     etcdc.KeysAPI
 	Ctx        context.Context
 	Inflight   *singleflight.Group
-	Stubmap    *map[string]proxy.Proxy // List of proxies for stub resolving.
+	Stubmap    *map[string]proxy.Proxy // list of proxies for stub resolving.
 	Debug      bool                    // Do we allow debug queries.
 }
 
diff --git a/middleware/etcd/lookup.go b/middleware/etcd/lookup.go
index 881c43a3a..2a33ff235 100644
--- a/middleware/etcd/lookup.go
+++ b/middleware/etcd/lookup.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package etcd
 
 import (
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"net"
@@ -74,11 +73,9 @@ func (e Etcd) A(zone string, state middleware.State, previousRecords []dns.RR, o
 			}
 			m1, e1 := e.Proxy.Lookup(state, target, state.QType())
 			if e1 != nil {
-				if opt.Debug != "" {
-					debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(target + " IN " + state.Type() + ":" + e1.Error()))
-					records = append(records, debugTxt)
-					continue
-				}
+				debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(target, e.PathPrefix), Host: target, Text: " IN " + state.Type() + ": " + e1.Error()}
+				debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
+				continue
 			}
 			// Len(m1.Answer) > 0 here is well?
 			records = append(records, newRecord)
@@ -138,8 +135,8 @@ func (e Etcd) AAAA(zone string, state middleware.State, previousRecords []dns.RR
 			}
 			m1, e1 := e.Proxy.Lookup(state, target, state.QType())
 			if e1 != nil {
-				debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(target + " IN " + state.Type() + ": " + e1.Error()))
-				records = append(records, debugTxt)
+				debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(target, e.PathPrefix), Host: target, Text: " IN " + state.Type() + ": " + e1.Error()}
+				debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
 				continue
 			}
 			// Len(m1.Answer) > 0 here is well?
@@ -203,8 +200,8 @@ func (e Etcd) SRV(zone string, state middleware.State, opt Options) (records, ex
 				if e1 == nil {
 					extra = append(extra, m1.Answer...)
 				} else {
-					debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(srv.Target + " IN A: " + e1.Error()))
-					extra = append(extra, debugTxt)
+					debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(srv.Target, e.PathPrefix), Host: srv.Target, Text: " IN A: " + e1.Error()}
+					debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
 				}
 
 				m1, e1 = e.Proxy.Lookup(state, srv.Target, dns.TypeAAAA)
@@ -216,8 +213,8 @@ func (e Etcd) SRV(zone string, state middleware.State, opt Options) (records, ex
 						}
 					}
 				} else {
-					debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(srv.Target + " IN AAAA: " + e1.Error()))
-					extra = append(extra, debugTxt)
+					debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(srv.Target, e.PathPrefix), Host: srv.Target, Text: " IN AAAA: " + e1.Error()}
+					debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
 				}
 				break
 			}
@@ -276,8 +273,8 @@ func (e Etcd) MX(zone string, state middleware.State, opt Options) (records, ext
 				if e1 == nil {
 					extra = append(extra, m1.Answer...)
 				} else {
-					debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(mx.Mx + " IN A: " + e1.Error()))
-					extra = append(extra, debugTxt)
+					debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(mx.Mx, e.PathPrefix), Host: mx.Mx, Text: " IN A: " + e1.Error()}
+					debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
 				}
 				m1, e1 = e.Proxy.Lookup(state, mx.Mx, dns.TypeAAAA)
 				if e1 == nil {
@@ -288,8 +285,8 @@ func (e Etcd) MX(zone string, state middleware.State, opt Options) (records, ext
 						}
 					}
 				} else {
-					debugTxt := errorToTxt(errors.New(mx.Mx + " IN AAAA: " + e1.Error()))
-					extra = append(extra, debugTxt)
+					debugMsg := msg.Service{Key: msg.Path(mx.Mx, e.PathPrefix), Host: mx.Mx, Text: " IN AAAA: " + e1.Error()}
+					debug = append(debug, debugMsg)
 				}
 				break
 			}
diff --git a/middleware/etcd/proxy_lookup_test.go b/middleware/etcd/proxy_lookup_test.go
index 868bf80d6..2a52cba06 100644
--- a/middleware/etcd/proxy_lookup_test.go
+++ b/middleware/etcd/proxy_lookup_test.go
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@ func TestProxyLookupFailDebug(t *testing.T) {
 
 	prxy := etc.Proxy
 	etc.Proxy = proxy.New([]string{"127.0.0.0:154"})
-	etc.Debug = true
-
-	defer func() { etc.Debug = false }()
 	defer func() { etc.Proxy = prxy }()
 
+	etc.Debug = true
+	defer func() { etc.Debug = false }()
+
 	for _, tc := range dnsTestCasesProxy {
 		m := tc.Msg()
 
@@ -58,20 +58,20 @@ func TestProxyLookupFailDebug(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// Note the key is encoded as DNS name, while in "reality" it is a etcd path.
 var servicesProxy = []*msg.Service{
 	{Host: "www.example.org", Key: "a.dom.skydns.test."},
 }
 
 var dnsTestCasesProxy = []test.Case{
 	{
-		Qname: "dom.skydns.test.", Qtype: dns.TypeSRV,
+		Qname: "o-o.debug.dom.skydns.test.", Qtype: dns.TypeSRV,
 		Answer: []dns.RR{
 			test.SRV("dom.skydns.test. 300 IN SRV 10 100 0 www.example.org."),
 		},
 		Extra: []dns.RR{
-			test.TXT(".	0	CH	TXT	\"www.example.org. IN A: unreachable backend\""),
-			test.TXT(".	0	CH	TXT	\"www.example.org. IN AAAA: unreachable backend\""),
+			test.TXT("a.dom.skydns.test.	300	CH	TXT	\"www.example.org:0(10,0,,false)[0,]\""),
+			test.TXT("www.example.org.	0	CH	TXT	\"www.example.org.:0(0,0, IN A: unreachable backend,false)[0,]\""),
+			test.TXT("www.example.org.	0	CH	TXT	\"www.example.org.:0(0,0, IN AAAA: unreachable backend,false)[0,]\""),
 		},
 	},
 }