Nah, that dog is just loving the cat.
My shepherd gets into some pretty rough play with my evil cat.
In an effort to herd the cat she will run up to the cat and put the cats whole head in her mouth just to show they cat hey don’t forget I can do this if I really want to.
Other times she will just step on the cats head. Not hard enough to hurt the cat, but just to let the cat know hey you, I’m 82 lbs and you are a mere 20 lbs... yes 20 lbs.
But if the dog start to squeaks her Kong toy, the cat gets furious at the sound of it and stalks the dog. If she can get the dog to put the Kong down, then the cat will guard the Kong with deadly coiled cobra strike tactics and the dog cannot get it back until the cat goes away.
Other times if the cat is soaking up the sun at the back door and the dog wants to hunt squirrels there, the cat will guard the back door and do cobra strikes at the dogs haunches until the dog goes away or the cat gives up.
Sometimes the cat lays completely upside down next to the dog with legs spread in all four directions while the dog licks her face or sometimes even the belly.
Strange relationship those two, but endless comic relief, minor violence, no one ever gets hurt.
Worthless without video
Funny stuff about your shepherd and cat. I had a shepherd and kitty that were best friends. The dog would chase the kitty (very small) and then the kitty would chase the dog (very large). Then the cat would nap on the dog’s back. So cute.
Later the same dog made friends with a more aggressive cat. They played rough. My shep was gentle, though. The cat would see the dog coming, run around the corner and hide, then after the dog walked past, the cat would jump up on his hind legs with his arms spread out and bite the dog in the butt, then run.
Nyah nyah, everyone knows cobras do not coil before striking.
What is it about GSD’s and putting other pets heads in their mouths? Our Shepherd use to do this with our Cairn when he wanted him to go outside. He would gently grab the Cairn around his head with his mouth and pull him outside. The Cairn never minded... it was some sort of “dog” thing I guess? You could see it as a weird affection...
Our cat Bubba used to get in our Beagle Buddy’s pet bed occasionally and he would just sit there looking distressed til we made the cat move. Then he would hop in as fast at possible.