Photo: Getty Images
Chase Stokes paid tribute to Kelsea Ballerini’s late dog, Dibs, who “went to doggy heaven” after a battle with cancer.
Stokes, 33, shared one of the photos from Ballerini’s Instagram post on his story on Thursday evening (January 8). He wrote as he shared Ballerini’s photo, “forever my sweet man,” with a bandaged heart emoji. On another slide of his Instagram story, Stokes added, “rest easy my beautiful boy. You are so, so loved.”
Ballerini, who reportedly reconciled with Stokes after a breakup, announced on Instagram that “my sweet Dibs went to doggy heaven yesterday. He spent his last few days in his backyard looking at the sunshine and surrounded and visited by his forever people. There are no words to articulate his role in my life, but I couldn’t have done the last ten years without him, and he will always be my soul dog…and I pray and believe we’ll find each other in every life. His love and reach can’t be captured in an Instagram photo dump, or in a caption, but here’s a look at some happy from Dibs. Thank you for loving him so loudly with me. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I got to be his dog mom, greatest gift of my life.” Ballerini said on Friday (January 9) that she’s “smiling and crying looking through all my Dibby memories. We did so much life together.” She plans to continue sharing memories with Dibs, named after her 2015 hit single, on the Instagram account @adognameddibs.
Ballerini shared in August 2024 that Dibs was diagnosed with an “inoperable cancer in his heart.” It was “a complex and emotional time.” The country superstar has since shared health updates, including that Dibs had surpassed his original prognosis of four months. She said when she celebrated Dibs’ 10th birthday in June 2025: “You’re my best friend forever and I’m so grateful we get to celebrate double digits of life together.”