A Tanuki is, as far as I know, not a real animal... its a mythologic animal that was said to be able to transform in to whatever he wanted, but he wasn't very powerful... Inuyasha's portrayal is accurate, actually ^^;
(most of Inuyasha is, I think...)

And I'll keep calling Gaara "the Thing", thank you. I also agree with Neji-Aniki-sama, Miyazaki is the animation equivalent of a drug dealer. I myself started with Mononoke Hime.