diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index b7edc2091a..1df80fcab6 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -3280,9 +3280,6 @@ qemuDomainAttachWatchdog(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (qemuAssignDeviceWatchdogAlias(watchdog) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    if (!(watchdogstr = qemuBuildWatchdogDevStr(vm->def, watchdog, priv->qemuCaps)))
-        return -1;
-
     if (watchdog->model == VIR_DOMAIN_WATCHDOG_MODEL_I6300ESB) {
         if (qemuDomainEnsurePCIAddress(vm, &dev, driver) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
@@ -3294,6 +3291,9 @@ qemuDomainAttachWatchdog(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
+    if (!(watchdogstr = qemuBuildWatchdogDevStr(vm->def, watchdog, priv->qemuCaps)))
+        goto cleanup;
+
     /* QEMU doesn't have a 'dump' action; we tell qemu to 'pause', then
        libvirt listens for the watchdog event, and we perform the dump
        ourselves. so convert 'dump' to 'pause' for the qemu cli */