diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f9132bec..f87d8641 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## v0.4.4
+
+BUG FIXES:
+
+* resource/virtual_environment_vm: Fix watchdog deserialization issue
+
 ## v0.4.3
 
 BUG FIXES:
diff --git a/proxmox/virtual_environment_vm_types.go b/proxmox/virtual_environment_vm_types.go
index 7b10b9e5..090a9b9a 100644
--- a/proxmox/virtual_environment_vm_types.go
+++ b/proxmox/virtual_environment_vm_types.go
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ type CustomVirtualIODevices []CustomVirtualIODevice
 // CustomWatchdogDevice handles QEMU watchdog device parameters.
 type CustomWatchdogDevice struct {
 	Action *string `json:"action,omitempty" url:"action,omitempty"`
-	Model  string  `json:"model" url:"model"`
+	Model  *string `json:"model" url:"model"`
 }
 
 // VirtualEnvironmentVMCloneRequestBody contains the data for an virtual machine clone request.
@@ -1615,3 +1615,37 @@ func (r *CustomVGADevice) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+// UnmarshalJSON converts a CustomWatchdogDevice string to an object.
+func (r *CustomWatchdogDevice) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	var s string
+
+	err := json.Unmarshal(b, &s)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if s == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	pairs := strings.Split(s, ",")
+
+	for _, p := range pairs {
+		v := strings.Split(strings.TrimSpace(p), "=")
+
+		if len(v) == 1 {
+			r.Model = &v[0]
+		} else if len(v) == 2 {
+			switch v[0] {
+			case "action":
+				r.Action = &v[1]
+			case "model":
+				r.Model = &v[1]
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/proxmoxtf/version.go b/proxmoxtf/version.go
index 8b318eb0..3d362940 100644
--- a/proxmoxtf/version.go
+++ b/proxmoxtf/version.go
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ const (
 	TerraformProviderName = "terraform-provider-proxmox"
 
 	// TerraformProviderVersion specifies the version number.
-	TerraformProviderVersion = "0.4.3"
+	TerraformProviderVersion = "0.4.4"
 )