diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index 8db8b52b25..cfd3451800 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -1687,14 +1687,20 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
           <li>'poweroff' &mdash; forcefully power off the guest</li>
           <li>'pause' &mdash; pause the guest</li>
           <li>'none' &mdash; do nothing</li>
+          <li>'dump' &mdash; automatically dump the guest
+            <span class="since">Since 0.8.7</span></li>
         </ul>
         <p>
-        Note that the 'shutdown' action requires that the guest
+        Note 1: the 'shutdown' action requires that the guest
         is responsive to ACPI signals.  In the sort of situations
         where the watchdog has expired, guests are usually unable
         to respond to ACPI signals.  Therefore using 'shutdown'
         is not recommended.
         </p>
+        <p>
+        Note 2: the directory to save dump files can be configured
+        by <code>auto_dump_path</code> in file /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf.
+        </p>
       </dd>
     </dl>
 
diff --git a/docs/schemas/domain.rng b/docs/schemas/domain.rng
index 51aae14791..eee9864106 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/domain.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/domain.rng
@@ -1505,6 +1505,7 @@
             <value>poweroff</value>
             <value>pause</value>
             <value>none</value>
+            <value>dump</value>
           </choice>
         </attribute>
       </optional>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50b26f81a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.args
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test /usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -hda /dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1 -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb -watchdog ib700 -watchdog-action pause
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4314ec4429
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-watchdog-dump.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory>219200</memory>
+  <currentMemory>219200</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <watchdog model='ib700' action='dump'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index e1f4e04b21..db2d00657f 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -405,6 +405,7 @@ mymain(int argc, char **argv)
     DO_TEST("watchdog", 0, false);
     DO_TEST("watchdog-device", QEMUD_CMD_FLAG_DEVICE |
             QEMUD_CMD_FLAG_NODEFCONFIG, false);
+    DO_TEST("watchdog-dump", 0, false);
     DO_TEST("balloon-device", QEMUD_CMD_FLAG_DEVICE |
             QEMUD_CMD_FLAG_NODEFCONFIG, false);
     DO_TEST("balloon-device-auto", QEMUD_CMD_FLAG_DEVICE |