diff --git a/weaver/weave b/weaver/weave
index 837fc178..5dab5d9b 100755
--- a/weaver/weave
+++ b/weaver/weave
@@ -82,14 +82,34 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
         # (eth0, wlan0, etc) so the name becomes stable across host
         # restarts.
         MACADDR=`cat /sys/class/net/$BRIDGE/address`
+        case $(docker inspect --format '{{ .State.Running }} {{ .Config.Image }}' weave 2>/dev/null) in
+            "true zettio/weave")
+                echo "Weave is already running." >&2
+                exit 1
+                ;;
+            "false zettio/weave")
+                docker rm weave >/dev/null
+                ;;
+            true*)
+                echo "Found another running container named 'weave'. Aborting." >&2
+                exit 1
+                ;;
+            false*)
+                echo "Found another container named 'weave'. Aborting." >&2
+                exit 1
+                ;;
+        esac
         CONTAINER=$(docker run --privileged -d --name=weave -p 6783:6783/tcp -p 6783:6783/udp $WEAVE_DOCKER_ARGS zettio/weave -name $MACADDR "$@")
         echo $CONTAINER
         IFACE=eth0
         ;;
     status)
-        DOCKERIP=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' weave)
+        if ! DOCKERIP=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' weave 2>/dev/null) ; then
+            echo "Weave is not running." >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
         if [ -z "$DOCKERIP" ] ; then
-            echo "The weave container is not running." >&2
+            echo "Weave is not running." >&2
             exit 1
         fi
         if command_exists wget ; then
@@ -132,8 +152,9 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
         exit 0
         ;;
     stop)
-        docker kill weave > /dev/null
-        docker rm weave > /dev/null
+        if ! docker rm -f weave >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+            echo "Weave is not running."
+        fi
         if command_exists conntrack
         then
             conntrack -D -p udp --dport 6783 >/dev/null 2>&1
@@ -178,7 +199,7 @@ ip netns exec $NSPID ip link set $CONTAINER_IFNAME up
 
 if command_exists ethtool
 then
-    ip netns exec $NSPID ethtool -K $IFACE tx off > /dev/null
+    ip netns exec $NSPID ethtool -K $IFACE tx off >/dev/null
 else
     echo "Cannot find ethtool; please install it. Continuing without it." >&2
 fi