diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdCompressCtx.java b/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdCompressCtx.java
index fae39326..a4556189 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdCompressCtx.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdCompressCtx.java
@@ -103,8 +103,7 @@ public void loadDict(ZstdDictCompress dict) {
         if (nativePtr == 0) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Compression context is closed");
         }
-        // keep a reference to the ditionary so it's not garbage collected
-        compression_dict = dict;
+
         acquireSharedLock();
         dict.acquireSharedLock();
         try {
@@ -112,6 +111,8 @@ public void loadDict(ZstdDictCompress dict) {
             if (Zstd.isError(result)) {
                 throw new ZstdException(result);
             }
+            // keep a reference to the dictionary so it's not garbage collected
+            compression_dict = dict;
         } finally {
             dict.releaseSharedLock();
             releaseSharedLock();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdDecompressCtx.java b/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdDecompressCtx.java
index 46da79ff..fc040947 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdDecompressCtx.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/luben/zstd/ZstdDecompressCtx.java
@@ -47,8 +47,6 @@ public void loadDict(ZstdDictDecompress dict) {
         if (nativePtr == 0) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Decompression context is closed");
         }
-        // keep a reference to the ditionary so it's not garbage collected
-        decompression_dict = dict;
         acquireSharedLock();
         dict.acquireSharedLock();
         try {
@@ -56,6 +54,8 @@ public void loadDict(ZstdDictDecompress dict) {
             if (Zstd.isError(result)) {
                 throw new ZstdException(result);
             }
+            // keep a reference to the dictionary so it's not garbage collected
+            decompression_dict = dict;
         } finally {
             dict.releaseSharedLock();
             releaseSharedLock();