diff --git a/python2/pyinotify.py b/python2/pyinotify.py
index d2f0816..fa9d9b0 100755
--- a/python2/pyinotify.py
+++ b/python2/pyinotify.py
@@ -1979,7 +1979,8 @@ def __get_sub_rec(self, lpath):
             root = os.path.normpath(root)
             # recursion
             lend = len(root)
-            for iwd in self._wmd.items():
+            wmd = self._wmd.copy().items()
+            for iwd in wmd:
                 cur = iwd[1].path
                 pref = os.path.commonprefix([root, cur])
                 if root == os.sep or (len(pref) == lend and \
diff --git a/python3/pyinotify.py b/python3/pyinotify.py
index bc24313..cc3aa6e 100755
--- a/python3/pyinotify.py
+++ b/python3/pyinotify.py
@@ -1958,7 +1958,8 @@ def __get_sub_rec(self, lpath):
             root = os.path.normpath(root)
             # recursion
             lend = len(root)
-            for iwd in self._wmd.items():
+            wmd = self._wmd.copy().items()
+            for iwd in wmd:
                 cur = iwd[1].path
                 pref = os.path.commonprefix([root, cur])
                 if root == os.sep or (len(pref) == lend and \