diff --git a/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_alembic.py b/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_alembic.py
index f817a25c86..8872372484 100644
--- a/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_alembic.py
+++ b/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_alembic.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class ExtractAlembic(colorbleed.api.Extractor):
 
     def process(self, instance):
 
+        import hou
+
         ropnode = instance[0]
 
         # Get the filename from the filename parameter
@@ -25,7 +27,15 @@ class ExtractAlembic(colorbleed.api.Extractor):
         # We run the render
         self.log.info("Writing alembic '%s' to '%s'" % (file_name,
                                                         staging_dir))
-        ropnode.render()
+        try:
+            ropnode.render()
+        except hou.Error as exc:
+            # The hou.Error is not inherited from a Python Exception class,
+            # so we explicitly capture the houdini error, otherwise pyblish
+            # will remain hanging.
+            import traceback
+            traceback.print_exc()
+            raise RuntimeError("Render failed: {0}".format(exc))
 
         if "files" not in instance.data:
             instance.data["files"] = []
diff --git a/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_vdb_cache.py b/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_vdb_cache.py
index 337460dd58..7fe443b5a1 100644
--- a/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_vdb_cache.py
+++ b/colorbleed/plugins/houdini/publish/extract_vdb_cache.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class ExtractVDBCache(colorbleed.api.Extractor):
 
     def process(self, instance):
 
+        import hou
+
         ropnode = instance[0]
 
         # Get the filename from the filename parameter
@@ -23,7 +25,15 @@ class ExtractVDBCache(colorbleed.api.Extractor):
         file_name = os.path.basename(sop_output)
 
         self.log.info("Writing VDB '%s' to '%s'" % (file_name, staging_dir))
-        ropnode.render()
+        try:
+            ropnode.render()
+        except hou.Error as exc:
+            # The hou.Error is not inherited from a Python Exception class,
+            # so we explicitly capture the houdini error, otherwise pyblish
+            # will remain hanging.
+            import traceback
+            traceback.print_exc()
+            raise RuntimeError("Render failed: {0}".format(exc))
 
         if "files" not in instance.data:
             instance.data["files"] = []