diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index e0b9ee2fc..e6245a9a8 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -122,6 +122,17 @@ func PreRun(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
 		log.Warn("Using `WATCHTOWER_NO_PULL` and `WATCHTOWER_MONITOR_ONLY` simultaneously might lead to no action being taken at all. If this is intentional, you may safely ignore this message.")
 	}
 
+	// check if DOCKER_API_VERSION is set
+	if os.Getenv("DOCKER_API_VERSION") == "" {
+		log.Warn("The DOCKER_API_VERSION environment variable is not set. This may cause unexpected behavior while recreating docker containers. Defaulting to 1.44")
+		// set DOCKER_API_VERSION to 1.44
+		os.Setenv("DOCKER_API_VERSION", "1.44")
+	}
+	// check if DOCKER_API_VERSION is set to minimum 1.44 or higher
+	if os.Getenv("DOCKER_API_VERSION") < "1.44" {
+		log.Warn("The DOCKER_API_VERSION environment variable is set to a version lower than 1.44. This may cause unexpected behavior while recreating docker containers.")
+	}
+
 	client = container.NewClient(container.ClientOptions{
 		IncludeStopped:    includeStopped,
 		ReviveStopped:     reviveStopped,