diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 75515fad56..3e24ff4a99 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -16,12 +16,13 @@
 import os
 
 import fixtures
+import sys
 import testtools
 
 
 class TestCase(testtools.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
-        super(TestCase, self).setUp()
+        testtools.TestCase.setUp(self)
 
         if (os.environ.get("OS_STDOUT_NOCAPTURE") == "True" and
                 os.environ.get("OS_STDOUT_NOCAPTURE") == "1"):
@@ -32,3 +33,27 @@ class TestCase(testtools.TestCase):
                 os.environ.get("OS_STDERR_NOCAPTURE") == "1"):
             stderr = self.useFixture(fixtures.StringStream("stderr")).stream
             self.useFixture(fixtures.MonkeyPatch("sys.stderr", stderr))
+
+    # 2.6 doesn't have the assert dict equals so make sure that it exists
+    if tuple(sys.version_info)[0:2] < (2, 7):
+
+        def assertIsInstance(self, obj, cls, msg=None):
+            """Same as self.assertTrue(isinstance(obj, cls)), with a nicer
+            default message
+            """
+            if not isinstance(obj, cls):
+                standardMsg = '%s is not an instance of %r' % (obj, cls)
+                self.fail(self._formatMessage(msg, standardMsg))
+
+        def assertDictEqual(self, d1, d2, msg=None):
+            # Simple version taken from 2.7
+            self.assertIsInstance(d1, dict,
+                                  'First argument is not a dictionary')
+            self.assertIsInstance(d2, dict,
+                                  'Second argument is not a dictionary')
+            if d1 != d2:
+                if msg:
+                    self.fail(msg)
+                else:
+                    standardMsg = '%r != %r' % (d1, d2)
+                    self.fail(standardMsg)