diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigtable/BigtableConfigTranslator.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigtable/BigtableConfigTranslator.java
index 02273f8334dc..7484d84782d0 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigtable/BigtableConfigTranslator.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigtable/BigtableConfigTranslator.java
@@ -321,7 +321,12 @@ private static BigtableDataSettings configureReadSettings(
         .setRpcTimeoutMultiplier(1)
         .setTotalTimeout(Duration.ofMillis(Math.max(initialRpcTimeout, totalTimeout)));
 
-    settings.stubSettings().readRowsSettings().setWaitTimeout(Duration.ofMillis(waitTimeout));
+    settings
+        .stubSettings()
+        .readRowsSettings()
+        .setWaitTimeout(Duration.ofMillis(waitTimeout))
+        // Temporarily doubles the idle timeout to work around a bug in gax watchdog
+        .setIdleTimeout(Duration.ofMinutes(10));
 
     settings.stubSettings().readRowsSettings().setRetrySettings(retrySettings.build());