The Bulldogs fell to a third-straight loss on Friday as the Cowboys notched up a valuable win at Accor Stadium to boost off-contract head coach Todd Payten's hopes of gaining an extension.
Payten's side have been one of the NRL's most-entertaining, high-scoring sides in 2026 but put their flamboyant attack in their back pocket for long periods and relied on defensive steel to pick up their sixth win in seven games.
The Cowboys were forced to defend 43 Canterbury play-the-balls in their own 20m zone.
But the Bulldogs' only two tries came through a solo dart from halfback Lachlan Galvin and when back-rower Josh Curran scooped up an aerial bomb that was spilled by Zac Laybutt.
"There's no doubt that we're going to have to be more resilient as a group when we defend and we showed that tonight and have showed it in periods through this year," said Payten.
"The thing I also like is how consistent we've been getting out of our own end and not making the errors and putting us under pressure there.
"Everyone's contributing and that was a real team performance tonight."
Cameron Ciraldo's side, meanwhile, have struggled for attacking cohesion all year.
The debate over the Bulldogs' spine was blown open this week when NRL Immortal Andrew Johns questioned Galvin's ability to be the side's halfback alongside Matt Burton.
"The way we finished to let in three really soft tries is not good enough," Ciraldo said.
"We're in a bit of a spot at the moment where clearly we're a bit low on confidence and we need to remember that there was a lot of good stuff in that first 60 minutes."
Galvin has still found a way to the tryline over recent weeks and was the man to break the deadlock when he swung to the left in the seventh minute and squeezed his way through the Cowboys defence.
But that was about as good as it got for Ciraldo's side as the Cowboys went in 12-6 ahead at halftime.
Reuben Cotter put downward pressure on a Tom Dearden grubberkick to the in-goal before former Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney set up fullback Scott Drinkwater on a short ball.
Curran was in the right place at the right time to feast on Laybutt's blunder and tie the game up at 12-12 in the 52nd minute.
The Cowboys were starved of possession but one damaging run from Jason Taumalolo helped them open up a buffer that the Bulldogs could not close.
The Tongan forward offloaded in heavy traffic and Tom Chester made a surging run through a switched-off Canterbury defence and offloading to Drinkwater for his second.
Jake Clifford and Braidon Burns both crashed over in the final five minutes to rub further salt into the Bulldogs' wounds as many of the 15,132 fans in attendance headed for an early exit.
The only sour note for the Cowboys was the loss of back-rower Jeremiah Nanai, who suffered a recurrence of a shoulder issue that required off-season surgery.
"He (Nanai) is going to get a scan but it's really disappointing for him because he's worked super hard... it's not great," Payten said.
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