diff --git a/core/application/config_file_watcher.go b/core/application/config_file_watcher.go
index a5f7d5f48..530acb4d4 100644
--- a/core/application/config_file_watcher.go
+++ b/core/application/config_file_watcher.go
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ func readRuntimeSettingsJson(startupAppConfig config.ApplicationConfig) fileHand
 		envWatchdogBusy := appConfig.WatchDogBusy == startupAppConfig.WatchDogBusy
 		envWatchdogIdleTimeout := appConfig.WatchDogIdleTimeout == startupAppConfig.WatchDogIdleTimeout
 		envWatchdogBusyTimeout := appConfig.WatchDogBusyTimeout == startupAppConfig.WatchDogBusyTimeout
+		envWatchdogInterval := appConfig.WatchDogInterval == startupAppConfig.WatchDogInterval
 		envSingleBackend := appConfig.SingleBackend == startupAppConfig.SingleBackend
 		envMaxActiveBackends := appConfig.MaxActiveBackends == startupAppConfig.MaxActiveBackends
 		envMemoryReclaimerEnabled := appConfig.MemoryReclaimerEnabled == startupAppConfig.MemoryReclaimerEnabled
@@ -257,6 +258,14 @@ func readRuntimeSettingsJson(startupAppConfig config.ApplicationConfig) fileHand
 					xlog.Warn("invalid watchdog busy timeout in runtime_settings.json", "error", err, "timeout", *settings.WatchdogBusyTimeout)
 				}
 			}
+			if settings.WatchdogInterval != nil && !envWatchdogInterval {
+				dur, err := time.ParseDuration(*settings.WatchdogInterval)
+				if err == nil {
+					appConfig.WatchDogInterval = dur
+				} else {
+					xlog.Warn("invalid watchdog interval in runtime_settings.json", "error", err, "interval", *settings.WatchdogInterval)
+				}
+			}
 			// Handle MaxActiveBackends (new) and SingleBackend (deprecated)
 			if settings.MaxActiveBackends != nil && !envMaxActiveBackends {
 				appConfig.MaxActiveBackends = *settings.MaxActiveBackends
diff --git a/core/application/runtime_settings_branding_test.go b/core/application/runtime_settings_branding_test.go
index 763ede4b1..3e19901bd 100644
--- a/core/application/runtime_settings_branding_test.go
+++ b/core/application/runtime_settings_branding_test.go
@@ -87,6 +87,31 @@ var _ = Describe("loadRuntimeSettingsFromFile", func() {
 		})
 	})
 
+	// Watchdog check interval (issue #10601). Unlike the idle/busy timeouts
+	// (which default to 0), NewApplicationConfig baseline-defaults the
+	// interval to 500ms. The loader's "apply file value only if still at the
+	// zero default" env-detection therefore never fired for the interval, so
+	// a UI-saved Check Interval silently reverted to 500ms on every restart
+	// while the idle/busy timeouts persisted. These specs construct the
+	// config the same way boot does (NewApplicationConfig) so they observe
+	// the real default the loader sees.
+	Describe("watchdog interval", func() {
+		It("loads a UI-saved watchdog_interval on the next startup", func() {
+			cfg := config.NewApplicationConfig()
+			cfg.DynamicConfigsDir = seedSettings(`{"watchdog_interval": "2s"}`)
+			loadRuntimeSettingsFromFile(cfg)
+			Expect(cfg.WatchDogInterval).To(Equal(2 * time.Second))
+		})
+
+		It("does not override an explicit env/CLI interval", func() {
+			cfg := config.NewApplicationConfig()
+			cfg.DynamicConfigsDir = seedSettings(`{"watchdog_interval": "2s"}`)
+			cfg.WatchDogInterval = 1 * time.Second // simulate SetWatchDogInterval from env
+			loadRuntimeSettingsFromFile(cfg)
+			Expect(cfg.WatchDogInterval).To(Equal(1*time.Second), "env/CLI interval must win over the persisted file value")
+		})
+	})
+
 	// MITM listener address. The file is the only source — no env var
 	// exists — so a regression here means an admin who configured the
 	// listener via /api/settings loses it after a reboot, even though
diff --git a/core/config/application_config.go b/core/config/application_config.go
index 1821a8441..8e4bb08f5 100644
--- a/core/config/application_config.go
+++ b/core/config/application_config.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/model"
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/system"
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/xsysinfo"
 	"github.com/mudler/xlog"
@@ -241,12 +242,19 @@ func NewApplicationConfig(o ...AppOption) *ApplicationConfig {
 		Context:                  context.Background(),
 		UploadLimitMB:            15,
 		Debug:                    true,
-		AgentJobRetentionDays:    30,                     // Default: 30 days
-		LRUEvictionMaxRetries:    30,                     // Default: 30 retries
-		LRUEvictionRetryInterval: 1 * time.Second,        // Default: 1 second
-		WatchDogInterval:         500 * time.Millisecond, // Default: 500ms
-		TracingMaxItems:          1024,
-		TracingMaxBodyBytes:      64 * 1024, // 64 KiB - caps each request/response body in the trace buffer
+		AgentJobRetentionDays:    30,              // Default: 30 days
+		LRUEvictionMaxRetries:    30,              // Default: 30 retries
+		LRUEvictionRetryInterval: 1 * time.Second, // Default: 1 second
+		// WatchDogInterval is intentionally left at the zero value here.
+		// The startup loader applies a persisted runtime_settings.json value
+		// only when the interval is still 0 (its "not set by env var"
+		// heuristic, matching the idle/busy timeouts); a non-zero baseline
+		// default would defeat that and silently revert a UI-saved Check
+		// Interval to the default on every restart (#10601). The effective
+		// 500ms default is supplied at the watchdog layer (DefaultWatchdogInterval)
+		// when the value is still 0.
+		TracingMaxItems:     1024,
+		TracingMaxBodyBytes: 64 * 1024, // 64 KiB - caps each request/response body in the trace buffer
 		AgentPool: AgentPoolConfig{
 			Enabled:         true,
 			Timeout:         "5m",
@@ -1097,7 +1105,7 @@ func (o *ApplicationConfig) ToRuntimeSettings() RuntimeSettings {
 	if o.WatchDogInterval > 0 {
 		watchdogInterval = o.WatchDogInterval.String()
 	} else {
-		watchdogInterval = "2s" // default
+		watchdogInterval = model.DefaultWatchdogInterval.String() // default: 500ms
 	}
 	var lruEvictionRetryInterval string
 	if o.LRUEvictionRetryInterval > 0 {
diff --git a/pkg/model/watchdog_options.go b/pkg/model/watchdog_options.go
index d11eb2371..e7c1eddfe 100644
--- a/pkg/model/watchdog_options.go
+++ b/pkg/model/watchdog_options.go
@@ -60,10 +60,17 @@ func WithIdleTimeout(timeout time.Duration) WatchDogOption {
 	}
 }
 
-// WithWatchdogCheck sets the watchdog check duration
+// WithWatchdogInterval sets the watchdog check interval. A non-positive
+// interval is ignored so the DefaultWatchdogInterval set by
+// DefaultWatchDogOptions is preserved: callers pass the raw
+// ApplicationConfig value, which is 0 when neither an env var nor a
+// persisted setting configured it (#10601), and a 0 interval would otherwise
+// turn the watchdog loop into a busy spin.
 func WithWatchdogInterval(interval time.Duration) WatchDogOption {
 	return func(o *WatchDogOptions) {
-		o.watchdogInterval = interval
+		if interval > 0 {
+			o.watchdogInterval = interval
+		}
 	}
 }