diff --git a/src/lxc/lxc_monitor.c b/src/lxc/lxc_monitor.c
index e765c16711..0b18a14a89 100644
--- a/src/lxc/lxc_monitor.c
+++ b/src/lxc/lxc_monitor.c
@@ -161,6 +161,13 @@ virLXCMonitorPtr virLXCMonitorNew(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     if (virNetClientRegisterAsyncIO(mon->client) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    /* avoid deadlock by making this call before assigning virLXCMonitorEvents */
+    virNetClientSetCloseCallback(mon->client, virLXCMonitorEOFNotify, mon,
+                                 virLXCMonitorCloseFreeCallback);
+
+    /* close callback now has its own reference */
+    virObjectRef(mon);
+
     if (!(mon->program = virNetClientProgramNew(VIR_LXC_MONITOR_PROGRAM,
                                                 VIR_LXC_MONITOR_PROGRAM_VERSION,
                                                 virLXCMonitorEvents,
@@ -175,10 +182,6 @@ virLXCMonitorPtr virLXCMonitorNew(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     mon->vm = virObjectRef(vm);
     memcpy(&mon->cb, cb, sizeof(mon->cb));
 
-    virObjectRef(mon);
-    virNetClientSetCloseCallback(mon->client, virLXCMonitorEOFNotify, mon,
-                                 virLXCMonitorCloseFreeCallback);
-
  cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(sockpath);
     return mon;