diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/changelog.d/18438.added b/datadog_checks_base/changelog.d/18438.added
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ec58102ba8718
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/changelog.d/18438.added
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+`utils.http.RequestsWrapper` accepts a session at initialization, useful for testing and controlling sessions in general.
diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/http.py b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/http.py
index 0e1d8e62e49d5..a53b070e94b41 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/http.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/utils/http.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ class RequestsWrapper(object):
         'tls_protocols_allowed',
     )
 
-    def __init__(self, instance, init_config, remapper=None, logger=None):
+    def __init__(self, instance, init_config, remapper=None, logger=None, session=None):
         self.logger = logger or LOGGER
         default_fields = dict(STANDARD_FIELDS)
 
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ def __init__(self, instance, init_config, remapper=None, logger=None):
         # https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#session-objects
         # https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#keep-alive
         self.persist_connections = self.tls_use_host_header or is_affirmative(config['persist_connections'])
-        self._session = None
+        self._session = session
 
         # Whether or not to log request information like method and url
         self.log_requests = is_affirmative(config['log_requests'])
diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/tests/base/utils/http/test_http.py b/datadog_checks_base/tests/base/utils/http/test_http.py
index 9273bc38daac1..3e57334785640 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/tests/base/utils/http/test_http.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/tests/base/utils/http/test_http.py
@@ -117,6 +117,27 @@ def test_attributes(self):
             assert hasattr(http.session, key)
             assert getattr(http.session, key) == value
 
+    def test_timeout(self):
+        """
+        Respect the request timeout.
+
+        Here we test two things:
+        - We pass the timemout option correctly to the requests library.
+        - We let the requests.exceptions.Timeout bubble up from the requests library.
+
+        We trust requests to respect the timeout so we mock its response.
+        """
+
+        mock_session = mock.create_autospec(requests.Session)
+        mock_session.get.side_effect = requests.exceptions.Timeout()
+        http = RequestsWrapper({'persist_connections': True}, {'timeout': 0.08}, session=mock_session)
+
+        with pytest.raises(requests.exceptions.Timeout):
+            http.get('https://foobar.com')
+
+        assert 'timeout' in mock_session.get.call_args.kwargs, mock_session.get.call_args.kwargs
+        assert mock_session.get.call_args.kwargs['timeout'] == (0.08, 0.08)
+
 
 class TestLogger:
     def test_default(self, caplog):
@@ -174,10 +195,3 @@ def test_instance_override(self, caplog):
         expected_message = 'Sending GET request to https://www.google.com'
         for _, _, message in caplog.record_tuples:
             assert message != expected_message
-
-
-class TestIntegration:
-    def test_session_timeout(self):
-        http = RequestsWrapper({'persist_connections': True}, {'timeout': 0.08})
-        with pytest.raises(requests.exceptions.Timeout):
-            http.get('https://httpbin.org/delay/0.10')