diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
index 376a495ab80c..3c109f1db8f0 100644
--- a/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
+++ b/drivers/watchdog/watchdog_pretimeout.c
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ void watchdog_unregister_governor(struct watchdog_governor *gov)
 	}
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&pretimeout_lock);
+	if (default_gov == gov)
+		default_gov = NULL;
 	list_for_each_entry(p, &pretimeout_list, entry)
 		if (p->wdd->gov == gov)
 			p->wdd->gov = default_gov;