diff --git a/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/Makefile b/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/Makefile
index 621c98f9..eee8cfbb 100644
--- a/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/Makefile
+++ b/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/Makefile
@@ -143,15 +143,15 @@ DEFINES =
 OPTIMIZE_FLAGS = -mcall-prologues
 OPTIMIZE_FLAGS += -finline-functions-called-once
 # default is for debugging from AVR Studio
-OPTIMIZATION = -Os  $(OPTIMIZE_FLAGS)
-DEBUGGING =
+OPTIMIZATION = -O1  $(OPTIMIZE_FLAGS)
+DEBUGGING = -g
 ifeq (${BUILD},debug)
 OPTIMIZATION = -O0
 DEBUGGING = -g
 endif
 ifeq (${BUILD},release)
 OPTIMIZATION = -Os $(OPTIMIZE_FLAGS)
-DEBUGGING =
+DEBUGGING = -DNDEBUG
 endif
 
 ## BACnet options
diff --git a/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/init.c b/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/init.c
index 777d2378..afd80ba3 100644
--- a/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/init.c
+++ b/bacnet-stack/ports/bdk-atxx4-mstp/init.c
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ void init(
     PORTC = 0;
     DDRD = 0;
     PORTD = 0;
-    /* Configure the watchdog timer - Disabled for testing */
-    /* wdt_enable(WDTO_2S); */
+    /* Configure the watchdog timer - Disabled for debugging */
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+    wdt_enable(WDTO_2S);
+#else
     wdt_disable();
+#endif
 }