The aim of the essay is to investigate how Swedish and international research describes the use of book dogs as an educational tool to encourage children to learn to read and feel motivated to read. To achieve the aim a systematic literature study has been performed, with the focus on how book dogs are presented as enhancing motivation to learn to read in primary school, and the ways in which book dogs have been used in Swedish and foreign schools. Similarities and differences between Swedish and international use of book dogs have also been examined. Data were collected through scientific databases, and only high-quality studies and peer-reviewed scholarly studies occur in the selected literature. The material has been analysed in terms of motivation theory, with the focus on motivation to read.   The result shows that both Swedish and international studies emphasize how book dogs can motivate primary school pupils to start reading or to read more. Book dogs also seem to be able to motivate pupils to become more involved in school work in general. What the majority of researchers emphasize, however, is that the use of book dogs is a supplement to other methods for motivation and development of reading, and that the measures should be used systematically and over a long time. One difference between Swedish and international work with book dogs is that the activities with book dog teams in Swedish schools are limited by rules about the places in which dogs are permitted.