diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 63c9c97..4ec66bc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Detect backward incompatible migrations for your django project. All in one file
 * `--include-apps INCLUDE_APPS [INCLUDE_APPS ...]` - check only migrations that are in the specified django apps
 * `--exclude-apps EXCLUDE_APPS [EXCLUDE_APPS ...]` - ignore migrations that are in the specified django apps
 * `--verbose` or `-v` - print more information during execution
+* `--database DATABASE` - specify the database for which to generate the SQL. Defaults to *default*
 
 ## Requirements
 
diff --git a/migration_linter.py b/migration_linter.py
index 2e7f7f4..7ae5db9 100644
--- a/migration_linter.py
+++ b/migration_linter.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ class MigrationLinter:
         self.ignore_name_contains = kwargs.get('ignore_name_contains', None)
         self.include_apps = kwargs.get('include_apps', None)
         self.exclude_apps = kwargs.get('exclude_apps', None)
+        self.database = kwargs.get('database', None) or 'default'
 
         self.changed_migration_files = []
         self._gather_migrations()
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ class MigrationLinter:
             or (self.ignore_name_contains and self.ignore_name_contains in migration_name)
 
     def django_sqlmigrate(self, app_name, migration_name):
-        git_diff_command = 'cd {0} && python manage.py sqlmigrate {1} {2}'.format(self.location, app_name, migration_name)
+        git_diff_command = 'cd {0} && python manage.py sqlmigrate {1} {2} --database {3}'.format(self.location, app_name, migration_name, self.database)
         log.info('Executing {0}'.format(git_diff_command))
         diff_process = Popen(git_diff_command, shell=True, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
         sql_statements = []
@@ -126,6 +127,8 @@ class MigrationLinter:
             if not line.startswith('--'):  # Do not take sql comments into account
                 sql_statements.append(line.strip())
         diff_process.wait()
+        if diff_process.returncode != 0:
+            raise RuntimeError('sqlmigrate command failed')
         log.info('Found {0} sql migration lines'.format(len(sql_statements)))
         return sql_statements
 
@@ -168,6 +171,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     parser.add_argument('commit_id', metavar='GIT_COMMIT_ID', type=str, nargs='?', help='if specified, only migrations since this commit will be taken into account. If not specified, the initial repo commit will be used')
     parser.add_argument('--ignore-name-contains', type=str, nargs='?', help='ignore migrations containing this name')
     parser.add_argument('--verbose', '-v', action='store_true', help='print more information during execution')
+    parser.add_argument('--database', type=str, nargs='?', help='specify the database for which to generate the SQL. Defaults to default')
     incl_excl_group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=False)
     incl_excl_group.add_argument('--include-apps', type=str, nargs='*', help='check only migrations that are in the specified django apps')
     incl_excl_group.add_argument('--exclude-apps', type=str, nargs='*', help='ignore migrations that are in the specified django apps')
@@ -180,7 +184,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     folder_name = args.django_folder[0]
     if valid_folder(folder_name):
-        linter = MigrationLinter(folder_name, args.commit_id, ignore_name_contains=args.ignore_name_contains, include_apps=args.include_apps, exclude_apps=args.exclude_apps)
+        linter = MigrationLinter(folder_name, args.commit_id, ignore_name_contains=args.ignore_name_contains, include_apps=args.include_apps, exclude_apps=args.exclude_apps, database=args.database)
         has_errors = linter.lint_migrations()
         if has_errors:
             sys.exit(1)