diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 18ba2b063c..7cd13b9e13 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -2118,11 +2118,9 @@ static int initialize_runtime(
                         write_container_id();
                 }
 
-                if (arg_watchdog_device) {
-                        r = watchdog_set_device(arg_watchdog_device);
-                        if (r < 0)
-                                log_warning_errno(r, "Failed to set watchdog device to %s, ignoring: %m", arg_watchdog_device);
-                }
+                r = watchdog_set_device(arg_watchdog_device);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        log_warning_errno(r, "Failed to set watchdog device to %s, ignoring: %m", arg_watchdog_device);
         } else {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
 
@@ -3007,7 +3005,6 @@ finish:
                 /* Cleanup watchdog_device strings for valgrind. We need them
                  * in become_shutdown() so normally we cannot free them yet. */
                 watchdog_free_device();
-                arg_watchdog_device = mfree(arg_watchdog_device);
                 reset_arguments();
                 return retval;
         }