Kelsea Ballerini, Chase Stokes' latest reunion hit by personal loss

Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes’ love story took an upsetting turn over a week after the couple rekindled their romance in the beginning of 2026.

After the pair officially confirmed that they are back together on January 1, following a breakup in November, 2025, the Country music pop star announced the death of her pet dog, Dibs, on Thursday, January 8.

Taking to her Instagram account, the five-time Grammy Award nominee shared the news with a heavy heart, bidding farewell to her furry pal with an emotional tribute.

"My sweet dibs went to doggy heaven yesterday," she captioned the series of photos and videos of her late friend. “He spent his last few days in his backyard looking at the sunshine and surrounded and visited by his forever people.”

Calling him her “soul dog,” the Cowboys Cry Too singer made a heartfelt confession.

"There are no words to articulate his role in my life, but I couldn’t have done the last ten years without him,” she penned. “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, the greatest gift of my life.”

Noting that even a photo dump couldn’t fully capture their bond, the Miss Me More singer shared several of her favourite memories with Dibs in the carousel.

The snapshots include swimming together in a waterfall, enjoying car rides, playing with her and Chase, 33, and many more treasured moments over the past years.

In the next update he shared a photo of the late dog from his own gallery and wrote, "Rest easy my beautiful boy. You are so , so loved."

The Valiant One actor and Kelsea, 32, have had a turbulent few months, with now experiencing a major personal loss just days after rekindling their romance.

Rumours of a breakup first surfaced in September, after nearly three years of dating. 

By November, the couple reportedly went through a brief, "messy" second split, during which the Uglies actor allegedly posted and later deleted that he had been "blocked."

Despite these challenges, the two reunited once again, confirming the news on January 1, 2026.

Chase shared romantic sunset photos on social media, signaling that they were starting the new year together. 

Among many other lessons he learned from his past mistakes, he mentioned some in the captioned, including, “Take accountability, learn from mistakes,"