diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 4a11054e05..955ed1e54b 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -2931,12 +2931,10 @@ int manager_loop(Manager *m) {
                 if (manager_dispatch_dbus_queue(m) > 0)
                         continue;
 
-                /* Sleep for half the watchdog time */
-                if (timestamp_is_set(m->runtime_watchdog) && MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(m)) {
-                        wait_usec = m->runtime_watchdog / 2;
-                        if (wait_usec <= 0)
-                                wait_usec = 1;
-                } else
+                /* Sleep for watchdog runtime wait time */
+                if (MANAGER_IS_SYSTEM(m))
+                        wait_usec = watchdog_runtime_wait();
+                else
                         wait_usec = USEC_INFINITY;
 
                 r = sd_event_run(m->event, wait_usec);
diff --git a/src/shared/watchdog.c b/src/shared/watchdog.c
index 98fefb3956..b64f423c51 100644
--- a/src/shared/watchdog.c
+++ b/src/shared/watchdog.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 static int watchdog_fd = -1;
 static char *watchdog_device = NULL;
 static usec_t watchdog_timeout = USEC_INFINITY;
+static usec_t watchdog_last_ping = USEC_INFINITY;
 
 static int update_timeout(void) {
         int r;
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ static int update_timeout(void) {
                 r = ioctl(watchdog_fd, WDIOC_KEEPALIVE, 0);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return log_warning_errno(errno, "Failed to ping hardware watchdog: %m");
+
+                watchdog_last_ping = now(clock_boottime_or_monotonic());
         }
 
         return 0;
@@ -114,9 +117,38 @@ int watchdog_set_timeout(usec_t *usec) {
         return r;
 }
 
+usec_t watchdog_runtime_wait(void) {
+        usec_t rtwait;
+        usec_t ntime;
+
+        if (!timestamp_is_set(watchdog_timeout))
+                return USEC_INFINITY;
+
+        /* Sleep half the watchdog timeout since the last succesful ping at most */
+        if (timestamp_is_set(watchdog_last_ping)) {
+                ntime = now(clock_boottime_or_monotonic());
+                assert(ntime >= watchdog_last_ping);
+                rtwait = usec_sub_unsigned(watchdog_last_ping + (watchdog_timeout / 2), ntime);
+        } else
+                rtwait = watchdog_timeout / 2;
+
+        return rtwait;
+}
+
 int watchdog_ping(void) {
+        usec_t ntime;
         int r;
 
+        ntime = now(clock_boottime_or_monotonic());
+
+        /* Never ping earlier than watchdog_timeout/4 and try to ping
+         * by watchdog_timeout/2 plus scheduling latencies the latest */
+        if (timestamp_is_set(watchdog_last_ping)) {
+                assert(ntime >= watchdog_last_ping);
+                if ((ntime - watchdog_last_ping) < (watchdog_timeout / 4))
+                        return 0;
+        }
+
         if (watchdog_fd < 0) {
                 r = open_watchdog();
                 if (r < 0)
@@ -127,6 +159,8 @@ int watchdog_ping(void) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_warning_errno(errno, "Failed to ping hardware watchdog: %m");
 
+        watchdog_last_ping = ntime;
+
         return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/shared/watchdog.h b/src/shared/watchdog.h
index a345e4ba7d..ce739fd8a3 100644
--- a/src/shared/watchdog.h
+++ b/src/shared/watchdog.h
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ int watchdog_set_device(char *path);
 int watchdog_set_timeout(usec_t *usec);
 int watchdog_ping(void);
 void watchdog_close(bool disarm);
+usec_t watchdog_runtime_wait(void);
 
 static inline void watchdog_free_device(void) {
         (void) watchdog_set_device(NULL);