testcontainers
diff --git a/src/testcontainers/core/docker_client.py b/src/testcontainers/core/docker_client.py
@@ -535,9 +535,20 @@ def is_podman() -> bool:
     ``pytest.mark.skipif`` decorators.
     """
     try:
-        # Use docker.from_env() directly rather than DockerClient() so we avoid
-        # the constructor's side effects (DOCKER_HOST mutation, registry login).
-        version = docker.from_env().version()
+        # Build the client directly rather than via DockerClient() so we avoid
+        # the constructor's side effects (registry login). We still resolve the
+        # host the same way DockerClient does so that hosts coming from the
+        # docker context (and SSH connections) are detected correctly.
+        docker_host = get_docker_host()
+        if docker_host:
+            client_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {"base_url": docker_host}
+            if docker_host.startswith("ssh://"):
+                # Mirror DockerClient: use the shell SSH client to avoid paramiko
+                # failures under pytest stdin capture.
+                client_kwargs["use_ssh_client"] = True
+            version = docker.DockerClient(**client_kwargs).version()
+        else:
+            version = docker.from_env().version()
     except Exception as e:
         LOGGER.debug(f"is_podman: failed to query daemon version: {e}")
         return False

diff --git a/tests/core/test_docker_client.py b/tests/core/test_docker_client.py
@@ -373,6 +373,9 @@ def test_is_podman(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, version: object, expected: b
     from testcontainers.core import docker_client as dc
 
     dc.is_podman.cache_clear()
+    # Force the no-host branch so the test is deterministic regardless of the
+    # docker context configured on the machine running it.
+    monkeypatch.setattr("testcontainers.core.docker_client.get_docker_host", lambda: None)
     mock_client = MagicMock()
     if isinstance(version, Exception):
         monkeypatch.setattr("testcontainers.core.docker_client.docker.from_env", MagicMock(side_effect=version))
@@ -389,6 +392,28 @@ def test_is_podman(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, version: object, expected: b
         dc.is_podman.cache_clear()
 
 
+def test_is_podman_uses_resolved_host(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    """When a host is resolved (e.g. from the docker context), is_podman must
+    query that host rather than falling back to docker.from_env defaults."""
+    from testcontainers.core import docker_client as dc
+
+    dc.is_podman.cache_clear()
+    monkeypatch.setattr("testcontainers.core.docker_client.get_docker_host", lambda: "ssh://root@remote-podman")
+    mock_client = MagicMock()
+    mock_client.version.return_value = {"Platform": {"Name": "Podman Engine"}}
+    mock_docker_client = MagicMock(return_value=mock_client)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("testcontainers.core.docker_client.docker.DockerClient", mock_docker_client)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "testcontainers.core.docker_client.docker.from_env",
+        MagicMock(side_effect=AssertionError("should not call from_env when host resolved")),
+    )
+    try:
+        assert dc.is_podman() is True
+        mock_docker_client.assert_called_once_with(base_url="ssh://root@remote-podman", use_ssh_client=True)
+    finally:
+        dc.is_podman.cache_clear()
+
+
 def _mock_docker_context(name: str, host: str) -> MagicMock:
     context = MagicMock()
     context.Name = name