diff --git a/configs/mvebu_espressobin-88f3720_defconfig b/configs/mvebu_espressobin-88f3720_defconfig
index 212bc00786c72d412cfdda9e4613c3ecee22c775..dd586c362bff8d6855738b0f9b97a58f76625406 100644
--- a/configs/mvebu_espressobin-88f3720_defconfig
+++ b/configs/mvebu_espressobin-88f3720_defconfig
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ CONFIG_CMD_MMC=y
 CONFIG_CMD_PCI=y
 CONFIG_CMD_SPI=y
 CONFIG_CMD_USB=y
+CONFIG_CMD_WDT=y
 CONFIG_CMD_TFTPPUT=y
 CONFIG_CMD_CACHE=y
 CONFIG_CMD_TIME=y
@@ -88,4 +89,7 @@ CONFIG_USB_ETHER_ASIX=y
 CONFIG_USB_ETHER_MCS7830=y
 CONFIG_USB_ETHER_RTL8152=y
 CONFIG_USB_ETHER_SMSC95XX=y
+# CONFIG_WATCHDOG_AUTOSTART is not set
+CONFIG_WDT=y
+CONFIG_WDT_ARMADA_37XX=y
 CONFIG_SHA1=y
diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/Kconfig b/drivers/watchdog/Kconfig
index 602ccbe41c00e8e0cba89f642cba53649a8ff008..aa76a8f2d239e397d633aec876d68aa33d72e680 100644
--- a/drivers/watchdog/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/watchdog/Kconfig
@@ -9,6 +9,19 @@ config WATCHDOG
 	  this option if you want to service enabled watchdog by U-Boot. Disable
 	  this option if you want U-Boot to start watchdog but never service it.
 
+config WATCHDOG_AUTOSTART
+	bool "Automatically start watchdog timer"
+	depends on WDT
+	default y
+	help
+	  Automatically start watchdog timer and start servicing it during
+	  init phase. Enabled by default. Disable this option if you want
+	  to compile U-Boot with CONFIG_WDT support but do not want to
+	  activate watchdog, like when CONFIG_WDT option is disabled. You
+	  would be able to start watchdog manually by 'wdt' command. Useful
+	  when you want to have support for 'wdt' command but do not want
+	  to have watchdog enabled by default.
+
 config WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MSECS
 	int "Watchdog timeout in msec"
 	default 128000 if ARCH_MX25 || ARCH_MX31 || ARCH_MX5 || ARCH_MX6
diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/wdt-uclass.c b/drivers/watchdog/wdt-uclass.c
index 28f7918c46733b7b99a81bf412d36004faf6b738..0603ffbd36d9d65276ea80a1ae85aad06ade22f5 100644
--- a/drivers/watchdog/wdt-uclass.c
+++ b/drivers/watchdog/wdt-uclass.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ static ulong reset_period = 1000;
 int initr_watchdog(void)
 {
 	u32 timeout = WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_SECS;
+	int ret;
 
 	/*
 	 * Init watchdog: This will call the probe function of the
@@ -50,8 +51,17 @@ int initr_watchdog(void)
 						    4 * reset_period) / 4;
 	}
 
-	wdt_start(gd->watchdog_dev, timeout * 1000, 0);
-	gd->flags |= GD_FLG_WDT_READY;
+	if (!CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(WATCHDOG_AUTOSTART)) {
+		printf("WDT:   Not starting\n");
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	ret = wdt_start(gd->watchdog_dev, timeout * 1000, 0);
+	if (ret != 0) {
+		printf("WDT:   Failed to start\n");
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	printf("WDT:   Started with%s servicing (%ds timeout)\n",
 	       IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_WATCHDOG) ? "" : "out", timeout);
 
@@ -61,21 +71,31 @@ int initr_watchdog(void)
 int wdt_start(struct udevice *dev, u64 timeout_ms, ulong flags)
 {
 	const struct wdt_ops *ops = device_get_ops(dev);
+	int ret;
 
 	if (!ops->start)
 		return -ENOSYS;
 
-	return ops->start(dev, timeout_ms, flags);
+	ret = ops->start(dev, timeout_ms, flags);
+	if (ret == 0)
+		gd->flags |= GD_FLG_WDT_READY;
+
+	return ret;
 }
 
 int wdt_stop(struct udevice *dev)
 {
 	const struct wdt_ops *ops = device_get_ops(dev);
+	int ret;
 
 	if (!ops->stop)
 		return -ENOSYS;
 
-	return ops->stop(dev);
+	ret = ops->stop(dev);
+	if (ret == 0)
+		gd->flags &= ~GD_FLG_WDT_READY;
+
+	return ret;
 }
 
 int wdt_reset(struct udevice *dev)