Kelsea Ballerini’s ‘Soul Dog’ Dibs Died: ‘We’ll Find Each Other In Every Life’

Kelsea Ballerini is mourning the loss of her “soul dog,” Dibs.

On Thursday, Jan. 8, the country singer, 32, announced on Instagram that her dog died the previous day. Her post included several videos and photos of Dibs throughout his lifetime.

“My sweet dibs went to doggy heaven yesterday,” her post began. “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,” Balleini continued, adding that she “couldn’t have done” the last 10 years without him by her side and calling him her “soul dog.”

“I pray and believe we’ll find each other in every life,” she wrote. “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.”

The Grammy nominee thanked fans for “loving him so loudly” with her. “i feel like the luckiest girl in the world that i got to be his dog mom, greatest gift of my life.”

Ballerini included several sweet snaps of Dibs in recent years, enjoying nature, from grassy lawns to rolling in the dirt and swimming in a waterfall.

The singer also added photos of her dog supporting her throughout the years, including his visit to The Voice set. She also included a picture of Dibs wearing a bandana that read, “My Mom Is Entertainer of the Year,” likely a reference to her 2025 Entertainer of the Year nomination at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The proud dog mom also added a video of Dibs walking to a private plane, and another image showed him wearing an “I ❤️ NY” shirt. Meanwhile, another video included the dog sitting and listening to Ballerini as she said, “Mom is going on tour. Dibby are you gonna come to shows?”

Ballerini also announced Dibs’ death on the Instagram account dedicated to him. The post included a photo of the singer and Dibs bundled in blankets together while sitting under the stars.

“I’m cancer free now, and my last days were so happy,” the post began. “My mom and my aunts and dad and grandma are going to show you a lot of my life on this page because I have so many pictures and videos that we all wanna share. Also, love you and thank you.”

Ballerini shared the post to her Instagram Stories, and added, “going to share every good ounce of dibby’s existence on this account over the next bit. ❤️.”

Dibs was diagnosed with cancer in August 2024, the Patterns singer shared. At the time, she revealed that doctors discovered her dog had cancer in his heart.

“He’s not in pain, and luckily it hasn’t spread further,” she wrote. “We’re going to start him on the ‘big’ meds to try to make sure he can have as many comfortable and happy days (weeks, months🙏) left as possible.” 

Nearly a year later, in September 2025, the singer shared that Dibs underwent an unexpected surgery.