diff --git a/pyzabbix/sender.py b/pyzabbix/sender.py
index 6089c3d..67311f6 100644
--- a/pyzabbix/sender.py
+++ b/pyzabbix/sender.py
@@ -382,6 +382,18 @@ def _chunk_send(self, metrics):
         """
         messages = self._create_messages(metrics)
         request = self._create_request(messages)
+
+        return self._send_request(request)
+
+    def _send_request(self, request):
+        """Send the formated zabbix request to zabbix server.
+
+        :type request: str
+        :param request: formatted zabbix request
+
+        :rtype: str
+        :return: Response from Zabbix Server
+        """
         packet = self._create_packet(request)
 
         for host_addr in self.zabbix_uri:
@@ -435,3 +447,22 @@ def send(self, metrics):
         for m in range(0, len(metrics), self.chunk_size):
             result.parse(self._chunk_send(metrics[m:m + self.chunk_size]))
         return result
+
+    def get_active_checks(self, host):
+        """Send a request to retrieve active checks
+
+        Format of returned items:
+            {'key': 'KEYITEM', 'delay': 30, 'lastlogsize': 0, 'mtime': 0}
+
+        :type host: string
+        :param host: host name to retrive active checks
+
+        :rtype: list
+        :return: List of active checks
+        """
+        request = '{{"request":"active checks","host":"{host}"}}'.format(host=host)
+        request = request.encode("utf-8")
+        logger.debug('Request: %s', request)
+
+        response = self._send_request(request)
+        return response.get("data")
diff --git a/tests/test_sender.py b/tests/test_sender.py
index 32962ba..1a0b811 100644
--- a/tests/test_sender.py
+++ b/tests/test_sender.py
@@ -222,3 +222,20 @@ def test_send_failed(self, mock_socket):
         zs = ZabbixSender()
         with self.assertRaises(Exception):
             zs.send([zm])
+
+    @patch('pyzabbix.sender.socket.socket', autospec=autospec)
+    def test_get_active_checks(self, mock_socket):
+        mock_data = b'\x01\\\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00'
+        mock_socket.return_value = mock_socket
+        mock_socket.recv.side_effect = (b'ZBXD', mock_data, b'''
+{"response":"success","data":[{"key":"KEYITEM1","delay":30,"lastlogsize":0, \
+"mtime":0},{"key":"KEYITEM2","delay":300,"lastlogsize":10,"mtime":20}]}
+''')
+
+        zs = ZabbixSender()
+        result = zs.get_active_checks("host1")
+        self.assertIsInstance(result, list)
+        self.assertEqual(result[0], {"key": "KEYITEM1", "delay": 30,
+                                     "lastlogsize": 0, "mtime": 0})
+        self.assertEqual(result[1], {"key": "KEYITEM2", "delay": 300,
+                                     "lastlogsize": 10, "mtime": 20})