diff --git a/lib/dao.js b/lib/dao.js
index 0ed06bc3..959a734e 100644
--- a/lib/dao.js
+++ b/lib/dao.js
@@ -1684,8 +1684,8 @@ DataAccessObject._sanitizeQuery = function(query, options) {
     prohibitHiddenPropertiesInQuery = true;
   }
 
-  if (!prohibitHiddenPropertiesInQuery)
-    console.log(prohibitHiddenPropertiesInQuery);
+  // See https://github.com/strongloop/loopback-datasource-juggler/issues/1651
+  var maxDepthOfQuery = (+this._getSetting('maxDepthOfQuery')) || 12;
 
   var prohibitedKeys = [];
   // Check violation of keys
@@ -1697,6 +1697,7 @@ DataAccessObject._sanitizeQuery = function(query, options) {
   }
   return sanitizeQueryOrData(query,
     Object.assign({
+      maxDepth: maxDepthOfQuery,
       prohibitedKeys: prohibitedKeys,
       normalizeUndefinedInQuery: normalizeUndefinedInQuery,
     }, options));
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 84b647fd..b9dd4177 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -336,18 +336,25 @@ function sanitizeQuery(query, options) {
   const prohibitedKeys = options.prohibitedKeys;
   const offendingKeys = [];
   const normalizeUndefinedInQuery = options.normalizeUndefinedInQuery;
-  const maxDepth = options.maxDepth || 10;
+  const maxDepth = options.maxDepth || 12;
   // WARNING: [rfeng] Use map() will cause mongodb to produce invalid BSON
   // as traverse doesn't transform the ObjectId correctly
   const result = traverse(query).forEach(function(x) {
     /**
      * Security risk if the client passes in a very deep where object
      */
-    if (this.level > maxDepth || this.circular) {
-      const msg = g.f('The query object is too deep or circular');
+    if (this.circular) {
+      const msg = g.f('The query object is circular');
       const err = new Error(msg);
       err.statusCode = 400;
-      err.code = 'WHERE_OBJECT_TOO_DEEP';
+      err.code = 'QUERY_OBJECT_IS_CIRCULAR';
+      throw err;
+    }
+    if (this.level > maxDepth) {
+      const msg = g.f('The query object exceeds maximum depth %d', maxDepth);
+      const err = new Error(msg);
+      err.statusCode = 400;
+      err.code = 'QUERY_OBJECT_TOO_DEEP';
       throw err;
     }
     /**
diff --git a/test/model-definition.test.js b/test/model-definition.test.js
index f49ae8ae..053f6067 100644
--- a/test/model-definition.test.js
+++ b/test/model-definition.test.js
@@ -257,6 +257,41 @@ describe('ModelDefinition class', function() {
     done();
   });
 
+  describe('maxDepthOfQuery', function() {
+    it('should report errors for deep query than maxDepthOfQuery', function(done) {
+      var MyModel = memory.createModel('my-model', {}, {
+        maxDepthOfQuery: 5,
+      });
+
+      var filter = givenComplexFilter();
+
+      MyModel.find(filter, function(err) {
+        should.exist(err);
+        err.message.should.match('The query object exceeds maximum depth 5');
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should honor maxDepthOfQuery setting', function(done) {
+      var MyModel = memory.createModel('my-model', {}, {
+        maxDepthOfQuery: 20,
+      });
+
+      var filter = givenComplexFilter();
+
+      MyModel.find(filter, function(err) {
+        should.not.exist(err);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    function givenComplexFilter() {
+      var filter = {where: {and: [{and: [{and: [{and: [{and: [{and:
+        [{and: [{and: [{and: [{x: 1}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}};
+      return filter;
+    }
+  });
+
   it('should serialize protected properties into JSON', function() {
     var ProtectedModel = memory.createModel('protected', {}, {
       protected: ['protectedProperty'],
diff --git a/test/util.test.js b/test/util.test.js
index a5256bcc..4fcdec8e 100644
--- a/test/util.test.js
+++ b/test/util.test.js
@@ -88,18 +88,18 @@ describe('util.sanitizeQuery', function() {
     var q7 = {where: {x: 1}};
     q7.where.y = q7;
     (function() { sanitizeQuery(q7); }).should.throw(
-      /The query object is too deep or circular/
+      /The query object is circular/
     );
 
     var q8 = {where: {and: [{and: [{and: [{and: [{and: [{and:
       [{and: [{and: [{and: [{x: 1}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}};
     (function() { sanitizeQuery(q8); }).should.throw(
-      /The query object is too deep or circular/
+      /The query object exceeds maximum depth 12/
     );
 
     var q9 = {where: {and: [{and: [{and: [{and: [{x: 1}]}]}]}]}};
     (function() { sanitizeQuery(q8, {maxDepth: 4}); }).should.throw(
-      /The query object is too deep or circular/
+      /The query object exceeds maximum depth 4/
     );
   });