diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 12c4e65e52..6d20cf9423 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -3871,6 +3871,9 @@ static void manager_notify_finished(Manager *m) {
 
         bus_manager_send_finished(m, firmware_usec, loader_usec, kernel_usec, initrd_usec, userspace_usec, total_usec);
 
+        if (MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(m) && detect_container() <= 0)
+                watchdog_report_if_missing();
+
         log_taint_string(m);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/shared/watchdog.c b/src/shared/watchdog.c
index dc94125379..22c28f0c37 100644
--- a/src/shared/watchdog.c
+++ b/src/shared/watchdog.c
@@ -482,6 +482,23 @@ int watchdog_ping(void) {
         return watchdog_ping_now();
 }
 
+void watchdog_report_if_missing(void) {
+        /* If we failed to open the watchdog because the device doesn't exist, report why. If we successfully
+         * opened a device, or opening failed for a different reason, we logged then. But ENOENT failure may
+         * be transient, for example because modules being loaded or the hardware being detected. This
+         * function can be called to log after things have settled down.
+         *
+         * If a device was specified explicitly, raise level. */
+
+        if (watchdog_fd == -ENOENT)
+                log_full_errno(watchdog_device ? LOG_WARNING : LOG_NOTICE,
+                               watchdog_fd,
+                               "Failed to open %swatchdog device%s%s before the initial transaction completed: %m",
+                               watchdog_device ? "" : "any ",
+                               watchdog_device ? " " : "",
+                               strempty(watchdog_device));
+}
+
 void watchdog_close(bool disarm) {
 
         /* Once closed, pinging the device becomes a NOP and we request a new
diff --git a/src/shared/watchdog.h b/src/shared/watchdog.h
index bf9212a865..da63730a5c 100644
--- a/src/shared/watchdog.h
+++ b/src/shared/watchdog.h
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ int watchdog_setup(usec_t timeout);
 int watchdog_setup_pretimeout(usec_t usec);
 int watchdog_setup_pretimeout_governor(const char *governor);
 int watchdog_ping(void);
+void watchdog_report_if_missing(void);
 void watchdog_close(bool disarm);
 usec_t watchdog_runtime_wait(void);