Canterbury remain top of the NRL ladder but now have Melbourne and the Warriors breathing down their necks after Cameron Ciraldo's undermanned side succumbed to just their second loss of the season on Thursday.
The Bulldogs were missing 11 regular first-graders through injury or State of Origin duty and it was noticeable with some of the tries they conceded at Accor Stadium.
On a testing night with torrential rain lashing the hardy 10,412 fans, they faltered against a Dolphins side who beat them for energy and effort - two hallmarks of the Bulldogs' terrific early-season form.
"They were tough conditions out there, but I thought the Dolphins handled them a lot better than what we did," Ciraldo said.
"They were a much better team, who beat us in every part of the game.
"They took their chances when they earned field position, and were way more desperate defensively, that was disappointing from our point of view."
Kristian Woolf's Dolphins have now won back to back games outside of Queensland for the first time in their club's three-year existence after they piled on 30 second-half points.
The win was their second-biggest since the Dolphins gained entry into the NRL.
In a game with 24 errors, Canterbury hit the lead after nine minutes when Matt Burton kicked a penalty.
Burton's shot came straight after Kurt Donoghoe was involved in a sickening head clash with Bulldogs halfback Toby Sexton that left the Dolphins hooker with a badly-broken nose.
"I was in the box, but you can see that it's been broken… it's fairly swollen now, back in place," Woolf said.
"He's a tough bloke, he competes hard, and we love having him in our team."
Donoghoe came back on 15 minutes later after some running repairs and by the time he returned Jamayne Isaako had put the Dolphins ahead with a try in the corner.
Prop Lipoi Hipoi struck back for the Dogs before the Dolphins finished the slickest move of the first half to take a 14-8 lead in at the halftime break.
Kodi Nikorima and Jake Averillo combined with Herbie Farnworth having the final touch to set up towering winger Jack Bostock in the left-hand corner.
As the rain sprayed in sideways, Canterbury needed to be faultless to stand a chance of reclaiming the lead.
But they were caught napping when prop Josh Kerr was able to sneak an offload away to Harrison Graham, who burrowed in under the sticks in the 46th minute to extend the Dolphins' lead.
The Bulldogs looked set to make a comeback, only for Jake Turpin's try to be chalked off for a questionable forward pass.
That knocked the wind out of Canterbury's sails and the weather-hardened fans mostly made for the exit.
Farnworth burst through the ruck with 15 minutes left to score in a sixth-straight game.
With the Bulldogs defeated, the Dolphins really turned the screw with Francis Molo, Jake Averillo and Donoghoe all adding tries in the final quarter of an hour.
"Right from the start, you could see that we were ready to play," Woolf said.
"We carried through with that for the whole game and that was a little bit of reward at the end."
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