diff --git a/cpu/cc26xx-cc13xx/dev/contiki-watchdog.c b/cpu/cc26xx-cc13xx/dev/contiki-watchdog.c
index 5b67df2e1..e12561869 100644
--- a/cpu/cc26xx-cc13xx/dev/contiki-watchdog.c
+++ b/cpu/cc26xx-cc13xx/dev/contiki-watchdog.c
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ watchdog_init(void)
 void
 watchdog_start(void)
 {
+  watchdog_periodic();
   ti_lib_watchdog_reset_enable();
 }
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
@@ -83,6 +84,15 @@ watchdog_periodic(void)
   ti_lib_watchdog_int_clear();
 }
 /*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+/**
+ * \brief Stops the WDT such that it won't timeout and cause MCU reset
+ */
+void
+watchdog_stop(void)
+{
+  ti_lib_watchdog_reset_disable();
+}
+/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 /**
  * \brief Manually trigger a WDT reboot
  */