diff --git a/.yardopts b/.yardopts
index cc365c89..41eb84bc 100644
--- a/.yardopts
+++ b/.yardopts
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
 --markup=markdown
+-
+README.md
+CHANGELOG.md
+CONTRIBUTING.md
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8a158eb0..c306c3f5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ section below.
 
 ### Unreleased changes
 
+- Several improvements to `StatsD.event` and `StatsD.service_check` (both are
+  Datadog-only). The previous implementation would sometimes construct invalid
+  datagrams based on the input. The method signatures have been made more
+  explicit, and documentation of these methods is now also more clear.
+
 - Slight behaviour change when using the `assert_statsd_*` assertion methods in
   combination with `assert_raises`: we now do not allow the block passed to the
   `assert_statsd_` call to raise an exception. This may cause tests to fail that
diff --git a/lib/statsd/instrument.rb b/lib/statsd/instrument.rb
index 19e4dfad..21f009cd 100644
--- a/lib/statsd/instrument.rb
+++ b/lib/statsd/instrument.rb
@@ -524,6 +524,7 @@ def distribution(
   # @param key [String] The name of the metric.
   # @param value [Numeric] The value to record.
   # @return [void]
+  #
   # @note Supported by the statsite implementation only.
   def key_value(
     key, value_arg = nil, deprecated_sample_rate_arg = nil,
@@ -533,14 +534,21 @@ def key_value(
     collect_metric(:kv, key, value, sample_rate: sample_rate, prefix: prefix)
   end
 
-  # @!method event(title, text, **metadata)
+  # @!method event(title, text, tags: nil, hostname: nil, timestamp: nil, aggregation_key: nil, priority: nil, source_type_name: nil, alert_type: nil) # rubocop:disable Metrics/LineLength
   #
   # Emits an event.
   #
-  # @param title [String] Title of the event.
-  # @param text [String] Body of the event.
-  # @param **metadata [Hash<Symbol, String>] Metadata to associate with the event.
+  # @param title [String] Title of the event. A configured prefix may be applied to this title.
+  # @param text [String] Body of the event. Can contain newlines.
+  # @param [String] hostname The hostname to associate with the event.
+  # @param [Time] timestamp The moment the status of the service was checkes. Defaults to now.
+  # @param [String] aggregation_key A key to aggregate similar events into groups.
+  # @param [String] priority The event's priority, either `"low"` or `"normal"` (default).
+  # @param [String] source_type_name The source type.
+  # @param [String] alert_type The type of alert. Either `"info"` (default), `"warning"`, `"error"`, or `"success"`.
+  # @param tags (see #increment)
   # @return [void]
+  #
   # @note Supported by the Datadog implementation only.
   def event(
     title, text,
@@ -558,14 +566,18 @@ def event(
     })
   end
 
-  # @!method service_check(name, status, **metadata)
+  # @!method service_check(name, status, tags: nil, hostname: nil, timestamp: nil, message: nil)
   #
   # Emits a service check.
   #
-  # @param name [String] Title of the event.
-  # @param text [String] Body of the event.
-  # @param metadata [Hash<Symbol, String>] Metadata to associate with the service check.
+  # @param [String] name Name of the service. A configured prefix may be applied to this title.
+  # @param [Symbol] status Current status of the service. Either `:ok`, `:warning`, `:critical`, or `:unknown`.
+  # @param [String] hostname The hostname to associate with the event.
+  # @param [Time] timestamp The moment the status of the service was checkes. Defaults to now.
+  # @param [String] message A message that describes the current status.
+  # @param tags (see #increment)
   # @return [void]
+  #
   # @note Supported by the Datadog implementation only.
   def service_check(
     name, status,