The Volts lost four wickets for 24 runs but had recovered to reach 224 for seven when bad light brought an early end to play on day two yesterday.
Canterbury leads by a slim margin of 23 runs after posting 247.
Otago opener Hamish Rutherford stood out for the home side with 87.
He showed a little more patience than usual but still swatted plenty of boundaries - 12 of them and mostly down the ground or through the point region.
He was caught off two no-balls, He appeared to hear the call for the second of them.
But in sight of what would have been his eighth first-class hundred, he was bowled by Hamish Bennett.
He had played pretty much a lone hand up until that point. Michael Bracewell had contributed 22 but Otago collapsed from 147 for three to 171 for seven.
It was left to Derek de Boorder (34 not out) and Craig Smith (18 not out) to get Otago past 200.
The pair have added 53 and will resume today.
Canterbury began the day on 197 for six.
Otago did not have to wait long for a breakthrough and Cameron Fletcher unable to add significantly to his overnight score of four.
He was bowled by Neil Wagner (four for 83) and shortly after that Todd Astle got an edge from the bowling of Jacob Duffy (four for 65).
Bennett whacked 25 from two balls to help put on a valuable 35 for the last wicket.
Otago batsman Jesse Ryder has been suspended from playing in the final round of the Plunket Shield after admitting a level 2 breach of New Zealand Cricket's code of conduct.
In the hearing, Ryder did not dispute a charge of serious dissent, including the use of offensive language, while playing for the Volts against Northern Districts in Hamilton on March 21.
• In Nelson, Central Districts needs another 196 runs to avoid an innings defeat against Auckland. The Stags were 239 for four when bad light stopped play on day three.
Will Young will resume on 84. Kruger van Wyk is at the wicket with him on 17.
• At the Basin Reserve, Northern Districts is 15 for two in its second innings and trails Wellington by 32 runs. Wellington's Deepak Joon scored a patient 113 to help his side build a small first innings lead.
