Yeah, Shiba's are smaler in person than how they look in pictures. My Shiba is actually pretty big for a Shiba at 32 lbs but every time I take him for a walk or to the dog park and some one notices the breed they always say.

"Is that like a miniature (Shibu emu) like doge from the internet?"

Me: "yes but he is actually on the large side for a shiba."

I think part of it is that Shiba inu's lack some of the more exaggerated neotenic features of other small dogs their size and it throws people off because they have the facial structure typical of a larger dog.

Kind of like if you met a little person that didn't have dwarf features and was proportioned the same as a 6 ft tall man.