diff --git a/frigate/embeddings/__init__.py b/frigate/embeddings/__init__.py
index 5e14d0d8c..7e54d9703 100644
--- a/frigate/embeddings/__init__.py
+++ b/frigate/embeddings/__init__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import base64
 import json
 import logging
 import os
+import sys
 import threading
 from json.decoder import JSONDecodeError
 from multiprocessing.synchronize import Event as MpEvent
@@ -52,6 +53,14 @@ class EmbeddingProcess(FrigateProcess):
             self.stop_event,
         )
         maintainer.start()
+        maintainer.join()
+
+        # If the maintainer thread exited but no shutdown was requested, it
+        # crashed. Surface as a non-zero exit so the watchdog restarts us
+        # instead of treating the silent thread death as a clean shutdown.
+        if not self.stop_event.is_set():
+            logger.error("Embeddings maintainer thread exited unexpectedly")
+            sys.exit(1)
 
 
 class EmbeddingsContext:
diff --git a/frigate/watchdog.py b/frigate/watchdog.py
index 63fd16629..7ae42d988 100644
--- a/frigate/watchdog.py
+++ b/frigate/watchdog.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class MonitoredProcess:
     restart_timestamps: deque[float] = field(
         default_factory=lambda: deque(maxlen=MAX_RESTARTS)
     )
+    clean_exit_logged: bool = False
 
     def is_restarting_too_fast(self, now: float) -> bool:
         while (
@@ -72,7 +73,9 @@ class FrigateWatchdog(threading.Thread):
 
         exitcode = entry.process.exitcode
         if exitcode == 0:
-            logger.info("Process %s exited cleanly, not restarting", entry.name)
+            if not entry.clean_exit_logged:
+                logger.info("Process %s exited cleanly, not restarting", entry.name)
+                entry.clean_exit_logged = True
             return
 
         logger.warning(