Moses Mbye has slotted a high-pressure 84th-minute field goal from 35m out to deliver Canterbury a 25-24 win over the Wests Tigers.
The Tigers led 24-6 after 57 minutes but the Dogs came storming back into the game to tie the scores at 24-24 and force the first golden point period of the NRL season.
Luke Brooks and Trent Hodkinson missed field goals in the extra time period before Mbye kicked true.
Brooks and James Tedesco pioneered a dramatic Tigers surge after halftime as they raced out to an 18-point lead, but the joint venture faded from there at ANZ Stadium on Friday night before 20,121 fans.
Tedesco put Kyle Lovett over to open the scoring in just the sixth minute for an early 6-0 lead for the home side.
Curtis Rona crossed for his first try when he latched onto a Frank Pritchard pass 12 minutes later to lock the scores up at 6-6.
But they were the only points in a slow first half before an exciting game opened up in the second stanza.
The Tigers scored three tries in 10 minutes from the 46th to 56th minutes with Brooks instrumental in the blitz.
The rookie halfback raced 80m to score after picking up an errant Greg Eastwood kick, before Tedesco scored his first four-pointer after chasing down a Brooks grubber following a Curtis Sironen bust.
Brooks then kicked again for the flying fullback close to the line, as Tedesco extended the joint venture's lead to 24-6.
But then the Dogs kicked into gear.
Michael Lichaa beat some poor Tigers defence in the 59th minute from dummy half.
Nine minutes later, Sam Kasiano tossed a lovely looping pass to Rona out wide for a score of 24-18.
Josh Morris then crossed for his first try in almost a year as he went past Tedesco and another Trent Hodkinson goal brought the scores level at 24-24.
Canterbury centre Tim Lafai (quad) was a late withdrawal, while the visitors also lost Brett Morris (calf) in the warm up.
The Tigers' pack battled valiantly without their leader Aaron Woods (knee), as rookie playmaker Mbye continued his development standing in for Josh Reynolds (arm).
Tigers centre Chris Lawrence was put on report in the second half for a late tackle on Sam Perrett.
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler praised his side's ability to mount a comeback.
"We have that ability to play catch-up football," he said.
"But it's something that we don't want to do all the time.
"It was always going to be disruptive for us, given the injuries we had.
"We got the points but the players know we are not playing our best football at the moment."
As for Mbye, Hasler said: "He's a cool kid."
Tigers coach Jason Taylor admitted it was a game his side should have won but said he was happy with how they had progressed in his first month under him.
"It was a game we improved immensely on what we did last week (in the loss to Souths)," he said.
"They just came over the top of us at the end there.
"It's important that we don't bash ourselves up too much about it.
"We were in that game - we should have won it, but that isn't the complete story.
"We are heading in the right direction, no doubt about it."
