diff --git a/Documentation/watchdog/watchdog-kernel-api.txt b/Documentation/watchdog/watchdog-kernel-api.txt
index ea277478982f..9b93953f69cf 100644
--- a/Documentation/watchdog/watchdog-kernel-api.txt
+++ b/Documentation/watchdog/watchdog-kernel-api.txt
@@ -280,6 +280,12 @@ To disable the watchdog on reboot, the user must call the following helper:
 
 static inline void watchdog_stop_on_reboot(struct watchdog_device *wdd);
 
+To disable the watchdog when unregistering the watchdog, the user must call
+the following helper. Note that this will only stop the watchdog if the
+nowayout flag is not set.
+
+static inline void watchdog_stop_on_unregister(struct watchdog_device *wdd);
+
 To change the priority of the restart handler the following helper should be
 used:
 
diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_dev.c b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_dev.c
index 32930a073a12..d5d2bbd8f428 100644
--- a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_dev.c
+++ b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_dev.c
@@ -987,6 +987,11 @@ static void watchdog_cdev_unregister(struct watchdog_device *wdd)
 	wdd->wd_data = NULL;
 	mutex_unlock(&wd_data->lock);
 
+	if (watchdog_active(wdd) &&
+	    test_bit(WDOG_STOP_ON_UNREGISTER, &wdd->status)) {
+		watchdog_stop(wdd);
+	}
+
 	cancel_delayed_work_sync(&wd_data->work);
 
 	kref_put(&wd_data->kref, watchdog_core_data_release);
diff --git a/include/linux/watchdog.h b/include/linux/watchdog.h
index 35a4d8185b51..a786e5e8973b 100644
--- a/include/linux/watchdog.h
+++ b/include/linux/watchdog.h
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ struct watchdog_device {
 #define WDOG_NO_WAY_OUT		1	/* Is 'nowayout' feature set ? */
 #define WDOG_STOP_ON_REBOOT	2	/* Should be stopped on reboot */
 #define WDOG_HW_RUNNING		3	/* True if HW watchdog running */
+#define WDOG_STOP_ON_UNREGISTER	4	/* Should be stopped on unregister */
 	struct list_head deferred;
 };
 
@@ -151,6 +152,12 @@ static inline void watchdog_stop_on_reboot(struct watchdog_device *wdd)
 	set_bit(WDOG_STOP_ON_REBOOT, &wdd->status);
 }
 
+/* Use the following function to stop the watchdog when unregistering it */
+static inline void watchdog_stop_on_unregister(struct watchdog_device *wdd)
+{
+	set_bit(WDOG_STOP_ON_UNREGISTER, &wdd->status);
+}
+
 /* Use the following function to check if a timeout value is invalid */
 static inline bool watchdog_timeout_invalid(struct watchdog_device *wdd, unsigned int t)
 {