This thesis aims to investigate why reading out loud to a reading dog works as a reading promotion action. The focus lies at children from pre-school to middle school in Sweden. The theory that is used is Maslows A theory of human motivation. It is especially the three last steps that are used; love, esteem and self-actualization. The method to collect information was semi-structured interviews with six persons. Two librarians and four dog handlers. What I found was that the three last steps in Maslows theory were fulfilled. This means that this thesis shows that reading loud to a dog works as a reading promotion action because Maslows steps were fulfilled. Important to know is that this study was small and that further studies needs to be conducted to confirme this thesis results.

The purpose of the study is to explore different experiences of Animal Assisted Therapy and search into how Animal Assisted Therapy in schools/preschools is already being pursued.To get the answer to my research question, I have done qualitative interviews with people working withAnimal Assisted Therapy in schools and preschools to share their experiences. The purpose of Animal Assisted Therapy may be to practice a specific knowledge, for example reading, but it may also be social interaction, communication, respect and responsibility.During my interviews, I have learned that Animal Assisted Therapyalso increases self-respect, self-esteem and empathy for others. It helps in the understanding of social interaction and respect of humans and animals. The individual becomes more able to take responsibility, communicate with others and take on school work. All my informants believe that the animal contributes to a relaxed, stress- and anxiety-reducing environment, through the hormone Oxytocin. Animal Assisted Therapy can be used as an educational tool in teaching to help students overcome their problems and continue learning. / Syftet med studien är att ta reda på vilka erfarenheter som finns av djurassisterad pedagogik och vilka olika syften som finns med djurassisterad pedagogik på de skolor/förskolor som redan bedriver det.För att få svar på min forskningsfråga har jag gjort kvalitativa intervjuer med personer som använder sig av djurassisterad pedagogik i förskola eller skola, för att ta del av deras erfarenheter och upplevelser.Djurassisterad pedagogik kan användas för att öva en specifik teoretisk kunskap, t.ex. högläsning, men även för att förbättra kommunikation, socialt samspel, empati, respekt och ansvar.Jag har genom mina intervjuer fått insikt om att djurassisterad pedagogik även kan användas som metod för ökad självrespekt och självkänsla, större empatiförmåga, ökad förmåga till socialt samspel, en ökad respekt och förståelse för både människor och djur, ett större ansvarstagande, ökad kommunikations förmåga, bättre kroppsuppfattning samt ökad motivation till allt skolarbete.Alla mina informanter är eniga om att djuren bidrar till en avslappnad och stressreducerande miljö, de anser att det beror på att hormonet oxytocin utsöndras när vi samspelar med och klappar djur. Mina informanter upplever alla att närheten till djuren många gånger minskar oro, ångest, stress och skänker glädje och positivitet. Den djurassisterade pedagogiken kan även användas som metod för att överbygga olika sorters problem hos elever samt användas som motivator för att motivera elever/barn i skolarbetet eller för att komma till skolan överhuvudtaget.

This master´s thesis in Library and Information Science examines the experiences of children who read to a dog. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the interactions between the librarian, the readingdog-handler, the child-ren and the dogs and what the benefits from the interactions might be. The aim is also to examine how the child-ren express their literacy during the readingsessions and how to develop the readingsessions at a specific library. The author follows a reading dog project for seven weeks, in collaboration with a specific school and library. Action research was used as a research strategy, and since action research is done on the basis of practice, a coll-laboration with the participating children, the librarian and the readingdog-handler was significant in this study.The theoretical framework concists of theory and concepts from the sociocultural theory developed by Ro-ger Säljö, and human-animal studies with concepts from Donna Haraway. The method used to collecet data was qualitative interviews, participant observation, logbook and tutoring. A total of 33 observations was collected, 33 short interviews were conducted and 6 tutoring meetings. Also the author, readingdog-handler and the lib-rarian kept a log for this seven week long readingdog project. A total of five third grade children participated in this study.Important results are that the children view the readingsessions as a schoolbased activity, but they would also read to a dog in their spare time. The interaction with the dog and the relationship between the child and the dog are important for the readingsessions to work well. The readingsessions have the potential to let children express and develop their literacy in several ways, though in this study literacy was expressed mainly by tradit-ional reading of printed books. The thesis also discuss to what extent the participant children are allowed to be involved in planning and developing the readingdog-sessions. All of the children participating in this study had a positive experience of the readingsessions and felt that their readingskills improved by reading to a dog.

Inledning: Föreliggande litteraturstudie kommer att studera hur läs- och/eller terapihundar kan främja barns läslust och läsutveckling. I flera länder, främst i USA och Kanada är hund baserad pedagogik ett accepterat verktyg för skolan i utbildningssyfte.  Syfte: Att göra systematisk litteraturstudie om användningen av en läs- eller terapihund kan förbättra elevers läsförmåga och läslust och om de kan underlätta inlärningen av elever med särskilda behov.  Metod. Litteraturstudien redovisar resultatet från 15 artiklar. Resultaten indelades i olika teman och presenteras i tabell och löpande text.  Resultat. Enligt studierna kan man se en positiv utveckling gällande läsförmåga, uttal och ordförståelse hos de barn som får läsa högt för en hund. Barnen upplever mer glädje och motivation samt mer lust till att läsa om hunden är närvarande. Även barn med särskilda behov gynnas av hund baserad terapi.  Diskussion: Studien stödjer tidigare forskning och slutsatsen är att barn som får läsa för en hund kan utveckla sin läsförmåga och öka sin motivation för att läsa. / Introduction: This literature study will examine how reading- and/or therapy dogs can promote children´s motivation to read and develop their reading skills. In many countries, primarily in USA and Canada, dog based education is an accepted tool in schools.  Aim:  The aim of the thesis is via a literature study explore whether students improve their reading ability and motivation to read with use of a dog. Also, the aim is to explore if dogs can facilitate learning to read for children with special needs.   Method: This thesis presents the results of 15 articles. The results have been categorized according to different themes and are presented in a table and in the current text.  Results: According to the studies there a positive development regarding reading ability, pronunciation and comprehension of the children who read out loud for a dog could be detected. The children experience higher joy, motivation and pleasure to read if a dog is present. Even children with special needs benefit from dog based therapy.  Discussion: This literature study supports previous research and the conclusion is that children who reads for dogs can develop their reading ability and increase the motivation to read.