diff --git a/.checkpackageignore b/.checkpackageignore
index b10f69ec36..a4c93db24f 100644
--- a/.checkpackageignore
+++ b/.checkpackageignore
@@ -1262,7 +1262,6 @@ package/waffle/0003-drop-C-dependency.patch lib_patch.Upstream
 package/wampcc/0001-Add-RISC-V-endian-detection.patch lib_patch.Upstream
 package/wampcc/0002-include-wampcc-platform.h-fix-build-with-musl-1.2.0.patch lib_patch.Upstream
 package/wampcc/0003-Broken-build-on-Windows.patch lib_patch.Upstream
-package/watchdogd/S01watchdogd NotExecutable lib_sysv.Indent
 package/wget/0001-lib-getrandom.c-fix-build-with-uclibc-1.0.35.patch lib_patch.Upstream
 package/wilc-driver/0001-cfg80211.c-fix-missing-prandom_u32-with-Linux-6.1.0.patch lib_patch.Upstream
 package/wilc-driver/0002-spi.c-fix-build-failure-on-remove-callback.patch lib_patch.Upstream
diff --git a/package/watchdogd/S01watchdogd b/package/watchdogd/S01watchdogd
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index df57b8ad7a..8f811ac0fc
--- a/package/watchdogd/S01watchdogd
+++ b/package/watchdogd/S01watchdogd
@@ -1,47 +1,77 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 DAEMON="watchdogd"
-PIDFILE="/var/run/$DAEMON.pid"
+PIDFILE="/var/run/$DAEMON/pid"
 
 # shellcheck source=/dev/null
 [ -r "/etc/default/$DAEMON" ] && . "/etc/default/$DAEMON"
 
-cmd()
-{
-    start-stop-daemon -q -p "$PIDFILE" -x "/usr/sbin/$DAEMON" "$@"
-    status=$?
-    if [ $status -eq 0 ]; then
-	echo "OK"
-    else
-	echo "FAIL"
-    fi
-    return $status
+start() {
+	printf "Starting %s: " "$DAEMON"
+	# shellcheck disable=SC2086 # we need the word splitting
+	start-stop-daemon --start --pidfile "$PIDFILE" \
+		--exec "/usr/sbin/$DAEMON" -- $WATCHDOGD_ARGS
+	status=$?
+	if [ "$status" -eq 0 ]; then
+		echo "OK"
+	else
+		echo "FAIL"
+	fi
+	return "$status"
+}
+
+stop() {
+	printf "Stopping %s: " "$DAEMON"
+	start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile "$PIDFILE" \
+		--exec "/usr/sbin/$DAEMON"
+	status=$?
+	if [ "$status" -eq 0 ]; then
+		echo "OK"
+	else
+		echo "FAIL"
+	fi
+	# watchdogd deletes its PID file on exit, wait for it to be gone
+	while [ -f "$PIDFILE" ]; do
+		sleep 0.1
+	done
+	return "$status"
+}
+
+restart() {
+	stop
+	start
+}
+
+reload() {
+	printf "Reloading %s config: " "$DAEMON"
+	start-stop-daemon --stop --signal HUP -q --pidfile "$PIDFILE" \
+		--exec "/usr/sbin/$DAEMON"
+	status=$?
+	if [ "$status" -eq 0 ]; then
+		echo "OK"
+	else
+		echo "FAIL"
+	fi
+	return "$status"
 }
 
 case "$1" in
-    start)
-	printf 'Starting %s: ' "$DAEMON"
-	# shellcheck disable=SC2086 # we need the word splitting
-	cmd -S -- $SMCROUTED_ARGS
-	;;
-
-    stop)
-	printf 'Stopping %s: ' "$DAEMON"
-	cmd -K
-	;;
-
-    restart)
-	$0 stop
-	sleep 1
-	$0 start
-	;;
-
-    reload)
-	printf 'Reloading %s: ' "$DAEMON"
-	cmd -K -s HUP
-	;;
-
-    *)
-	echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload}"
-	exit 1
+	start)
+		start
+		;;
+	stop)
+		stop
+		;;
+	restart)
+		restart
+		;;
+	reload)
+		reload
+		;;
+	*)
+		echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload}"
+		exit 1
+		;;
 esac
+
+exit $?