Welcome onboard Ben. I know you will love owning a Basenji as much as I have been these last few months. My B, Otis will be a year Jan, 4th..so we have been having a fun time with puppy hood and regular basenji behaviour..
I think they just look solid so my mind saw "bigger." I have one of the Wimaumau rescue giants (44 pounds), but even my 2 previous gals were far from petite... about 26 to 28 pounds. My dream of a petite 18 pound basenji just never happened, lol.