After Martha introduces the episode, she and Skits are seen waiting outside the door of a store on a hot summer's day, while Helen buys earrings for Mariella's birthday. They are very hot, so Skits opens the automatic door to let a breeze through and Martha has him stay there. Soon, the dogs start goofing around in the doorway, until a security guard approaches and tells them dogs aren't allowed in the store.
Helen buys the earrings, but there is a long line to the exit. Martha and Skits are very impatient and she wants to go in and complain. Skits goes in, and despite having brought it up, Martha is against him breaking the rules, but follows anyway. While looking for Skits, Martha sees the security guard, who's patrolling the store, and hears him warn two young boys not to be troublemakers.
She finds Skits, who's trying to eat a sign with two ice cream cones on it not realising they aren't real, and convinces him to run away with her, but they accidentally knock over a display. The security guard hears the crash and becomes dead-set on finding out who's responsible. The dogs try to run for the exit, but they're covered in clothes which obscure their vision and accidentally walk into an elevator.
When the elevator stops, Martha wants to wait, but Skits runs out and into the women's bathroom. He accidentally shuts the door, becoming stuck, so Martha follows. She opens the door, but Skits dawdles and drinks from a toilet, so the door almost closes again. Luckily, Martha is able to block it with her paw, but then Skits slides on the floor and bumps into her, closing it. To make matters worse, a message comes over the intercom saying that the store is closing in five minutes.
When Helen reaches the end of the line, Martha and Skits are let out of the bathroom when an old woman enters, and re-enter the elevator. However, when they reach the bottom, the security guard is there, suspecting the boys of taking the clothes the dogs got draped in. While Helen calls for her dogs outside the store and the security guard gets out of the way, he closes the store.
Part two begins with Danny prepping for Mariella's party. Helen calls him, asking if he's seen Martha and Skits, but he hasn't. He isn't worried, though, and believes they're going home without her. Meanwhile, after Skits tries to open the door to no avail, the dogs try to find a new way out.
Meanwhile, the security guard is watching an educational video on how to do his job. Martha is looking for a new way out, but Skits is more interested in poking through the trash, which then piques Martha's interest. Back at home, Helen and Danny realise something must be up, since the dogs don't just run off when cake is involved. Skits takes a nap on a bed, and Martha tries to wake him up, only to fall asleep as well.
The security guard goes to check the screens, but his phone rings. Skits dreams of saving Helen from a giant squirrel, which makes him kick in his sleep, kicking Martha off the bed and causing him to fall, knocking over a lamp. The security guard hears the crash, then goes out to find the bed unmade. When Helen and Danny show up with the former calling the dogs' names and the latter on the phone with Mariella, the dogs dash out from under the bed.
The security guard pursues them and hears Martha yelp when she bumps into a mirror, but she hides by pretending to be a statue. She meets up with Skits, who is trying to steal a tennis ball off a sign. He falls, knocking over some basketballs, two of which bounce in the security guard's direction. Martha finds a fire exit, but Skits turns on a tennis ball launcher, causing a mess.
The dogs finally escape, and run into Helen's arms, but then they spot the security guard chewing out the two boys and accusing them of being the intruders. Martha fesses up to him, but he doesn't punish her because he thinks he's hallucinating from overwork. Then, Helen and the dogs go home.
This episode provides examples of
- Ahem: The security guard gets the dogs' attention by clearing his throat, then later Martha clears her throat to get his attention.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: Mariella's age is never stated. There are ten candles on the cake, but that can't be her age, because that's how old Helen, her daughter, is.
- Amusing Injuries: The security guard spills coffee on his front, making him scream, then later, he falls and says, "Ow!".
- Bait-and-Switch: The security guard says, "What do you think you're doing?!". It seems as though he's talking to Martha or Skits, but really he's talking to two young boys.
- Big "NO!": Martha yells, "NO!" when she and Skits are trapped in the toilets.
- Birthday Episode: Helen is trying to buy earrings as a birthday present for Mariella.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Discussed. The security guard thinks the two boys caused chaos around the store, but they didn't.
- Canine Confusion: Skits, then Martha, is drawn with no fangs and with molars at one point.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Martha tells Skits to find a door, he finds the door to a dollhouse.
- Crazy-Prepared: Discussed when Martha thinks that every door should have a doggie door, just on the off chance that a dog gets stuck behind it.
- Delicious Distraction: At one point, Skits, and then Martha, get distracted from looking for an exit by seeing trash that they like to eat.
- Damsel in Distress: In Skits's dream, Helen is attacked by a giant squirrel.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: A squirrel is the villain in Skits's dream, then later Martha tries to chase one.
- Food Coma: After the dogs eat from the trash, they take a nap.
- Fun with Homophones: When Martha mentions fleeing, Skits thinks she's talking about fleas.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The security guard thinks that the solution to dealing with an intruder is to tell them to run off, doesn't even know what "capture" means, doesn't watch the screens, and thinks the phone is an alarm.
- Heat Wave Episode: It's a hot day, so Martha and Skits are very impatient waiting outside the store and eventually go in to complain.
- Heroic Dog: Skits dreams of saving Helen from a giant squirrel.
- Hope Spot: Just when it looks like the dogs will be able to escape, the security guard closes the store.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Despite wishing she could complain to the store staff, Martha is unsure about Skits breaking the store's no-pet policy.
- Inevitably Broken Rule: The security guard tells Martha and Skits that dogs are prohibited in the store. Later, due to getting impatient from the hot weather, they go in anyway.
- Irony: Martha gets distracted while defining the word "distracted".
- Large Ham: The security guard is prone to making exaggerated gestures and expressions.
- Loud Gulp: Martha gulps when the store closes.
- Mistaken for Thief: Martha and Skits accidentally run off with clothes covering them, and when the security guard sees the clothes missing, he thinks two boys stole them.
- Mondegreen Gag: Martha mishears "exit" as "X" at one point.
- Never Trust a Title: Martha never actually runs the store; she and Skits try to escape it.
- No Animals Allowed: Dogs are stated to not be allowed in the store (and probably pets in general, since the security guard said, "People only"), but Martha and Skits go in anyway since they want to let the humans know they "have rights too".
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: At one point, Martha hides from the guard by pretending to be a statue.
- Not Where They Thought: Due to the clothes covering their eyes, the Lorraine dogs think they're at the exit when really they're in an elevator.
- Offscreen Crash:
- We don't see the display hitting the ground, but we hear it.
- Skits audibly knocks over the trash can offscreen.
- Oh, Crap!: When the store closes, Martha looks worried and says, "I think we're in trouble!".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Helen and Danny realises that the dogs can't have just run off, since it's uncharacteristic of them to run off if there will be cake.
- Rule of Three: Martha getting distracted while trying to define it happens exactly thrice.
- Pink Means Feminine: The sign for the female bathroom is pink.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The security guard says, "There are no dogs allowed in the store, got it? No! Dogs! Allowed!".
- Right on Queue: Helen is dismayed at the long line to the door, since she wants to quickly get Martha and Skits out of the heat.
- Shaking the Rump: Martha and Skits wave their butts in the direction of the cool air when playing with the door.
- Swiper, No Swiping!: Discussed when the security guard thinks that if there's an intruder in the store, he can just tell them to leave.
- Toilet-Drinking Dog Gag: While in the ladies' bathroom, Skits drinks from a toilet.
