diff --git a/rootdir/init.rc b/rootdir/init.rc
index b305eb21b..4478beaa1 100644
--- a/rootdir/init.rc
+++ b/rootdir/init.rc
@@ -592,6 +592,7 @@ on post-fs
     mkdir /metadata/ota 0700 root system
     mkdir /metadata/ota/snapshots 0700 root system
     mkdir /metadata/userspacereboot 0770 root system
+    mkdir /metadata/watchdog 0770 root system
 
     mkdir /metadata/apex 0700 root system
     mkdir /metadata/apex/sessions 0700 root system