diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d7078468b..5c4c300ca 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - Updated the `NeuphonicTTSService` to work with the updated websocket API.
 
+- Fixed an issue with `RivaSTTService` where the watchdog feature was causing
+  an error on initialization.
+
 ### Performance
 
 - Remove unncessary push task in each `FrameProcessor`.
diff --git a/src/pipecat/services/riva/stt.py b/src/pipecat/services/riva/stt.py
index 23cff7c5e..7d9e8743d 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/services/riva/stt.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/services/riva/stt.py
@@ -279,7 +279,6 @@ class RivaSTTService(STTService):
             streaming_config=self._config,
         )
         for response in responses:
-            self.reset_watchdog()
             if not response.results:
                 continue
             asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(