A vicious dog who fatally mauled his owner has been euthanised, as the woman’s loved ones reveal they begged her to get rid of the mutt before the fatal attack.

Christine Kulis, 39, was attacked by her pit bull–mastiff cross on Thursday, following years of the dog terrorising neighbours in Whyalla, about 400km from Adelaide.

It’s understood the canine was euthanised shortly after the attack.

The development comes after her mother Meredith Howe told Daily Mail how the dog had previously attacked Ms Kulis and scared other dog owners.

‘I told her she should have had that dog put down, but Christine didn’t want to,’ she said.

Friend Alison Erskine said the dog had ripped the flesh off Ms Kulis’ arm during another savage attack just months earlier and she had to be airlifted to hospital.

‘It bit through the tendons so they flew her to Adelaide and she stayed in hospital.  When she came back (to Whyalla) she wasn’t the same person – she was so thin and withdrawn,’ Ms Erskine said.

‘That dog is mental, it’s mad – I told her she should have it put down but they wouldn’t.’

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Chrissy Kulis died on Thursday after being mauled by her dog which has since been put down

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Ms Kulis and her fiancé Arlan Potter owned a number of dogs and even bred them

Other neighbours said they weren’t surprised the dog eventually turned on its owner.

One neighbour, who was friends with Ms Kulis, revealed she would not walk her dogs past the couple’s property for fear they would be attacked.

‘I told her she should get rid of him because of her health – that she should think about her own health instead of the animal’s,’ she said.

Ms Kulis was engaged to Arlan Potter, and went by the name Chrissy Kay Potter on social media. They had been together for 10 years.

CCTV footage obtained by Daily Mail showed Ms Kulis and Mr Potter embroiled in a physical row with a neighbour after the animal allegedly attacked their cat.

In the video, Ms Kulis and Mr Potter can be heard warning the neighbour: ‘I’ll kill you.’

In separate footage, a brown and white pit bull–mastiff cross allegedly owned by the couple was seen hurling itself at a neighbour’s fence before being restrained.

One neighbour claimed it had been seen near children ‘foaming at the mouth’ and was ‘covered in scars’.

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CCTV footage showed the animal being restrained on a previous occasion

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A neighbour shared CCTV of a recent alleged altercation over the dog attacking a local pet cat

The dog is believed to have been bred by the couple from another dog they owned.

Many said the dog who killed Ms Kulis had been reported to Whyalla City Council on several occasions.

Ms Erskine told Ms Kulis she didn’t want to be around her dog.

She said she arrived at the couple’s home on Thursday evening to visit them, and found him ‘covered in blood’ sitting outside talking to police.

‘He told me the dog attacked Chrissy. Police told me to move on so I shouted at Potter to tell Chrissy I would see her at the hospital,’ she said.

‘But then I found out that she had died.’